T and S: TAYLOR!!! I sent you a cup of my blood! Did you get my blood?!

So, you may or may not know that I heart Taylor Swift, or as she is more commonly known as in our house, T-Swizzle / Talor Swist.* Almost every time a Taylor Swift song comes on in the car T and I say, "TAYLOR!!! I send you a cup of my blood! Did you get my blood?!" (It's our version of this funny clip from "Blades of Glory" - the man is an obsessed stalker of Jimmy, a figure skating star.)

*I put "izzle" on the end of everything (PBandJizzle, ETFizzle, EQPizzle, etc.). An eight year old in my SoCal primary class was asked to write down her favorite song and the singer. She wrote "you blong with me by Talor Swist." So let it be written, so let it be done.

For Christmas, T got me tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert in L.A. Except the day after Christmas, T accepted a new job in D.C. Obviously, this meant that we would not be in L.A. for Taylor's show in August. Booooo. We tried to buy tickets to see Taylor in D.C. but couldn't get any. I was pretty bummed, but what can you do? (Well, for about 10 minutes we considered flying to L.A. to see the show.)

This past Tuesday afternoon I was listening to the radio while making meatballs. The DJ announced that the Verizon Center had opened up 300 new tickets for the Taylor Swift show that night. You better believe I flew right over to the compy and pulled up ticketmaster. On my first try I got two tickets!!! I was crazy excited, but they were also kind of expensive (stupid ticketmaster charging a $16 fee for each ticket bought online!) so I called T to ask if I should buy the tickets. Except he didn't pick up the first four times I called him! T answered when I called his work number and said to buy them! So I did. I then proceeded to scream and clap and jump up and down because I WAS GOING TO SEE TAYLOR SWIFT THAT NIGHT!!!

I bought tickets at 1:30 and had to leave to pick up T from work at 4:30 so the afternoon got really busy in a hurry. I finished making, frying, and baking the meatballs. I cleaned the tub. I took a shower and did my hair. I picked out something to wear. I looked up parking garages near the Verizon Center. I figured out how to get to the Verizon Center. I charged the camera. I picked up some cash. And then it was concert time!!!

With the precious tickets!

Mugging it with Taylor.

BOOM! Self Photo!

Taylor is everywhere!

When I bought our seats online I thought we were in the middle section (height wise - kinda by the suite level) and tried to go up when we entered the area. The ticket taker pointed down... we were 8 rows from the floor!!! We were about 3/4 of the way back away from the stage and right across from the tech booth. But we knew Taylor would be right by us because there was a 6 foot circular black stage at the back of the tech booth and that is the only thing it could possibly be used for!

In our seats.

That's not a giant white cross in the background. It's a white horse's face with a band's name printed across it.

This tree was dangling way up high above the small round stage at the back of the tech booth. Definitely another sign that Taylor was going to sing right in front of us.

The opening acts were Hunter Hays (love these two songs) and Need To Breathe. I had never heard of Need To Breathe before but I liked them. They were a country-rock band and definitely sounded more rock than country. The bass player had awesome dance moves. When we got home we checked out their album online, but were a bit disappointed - they rock way harder in person than on the album. Still good songs (like this one), but just way more rocking in person.

Waiting...

After Need To Breathe the big curtain around the stage was drawn. Because I had bought tickets earlier that day instead of months in advance I kinda felt like I missed the anticipation / countdown excitement, which is definitely part of the fun. But I did have one afternoon of crazy intense anticipation excitement so I felt like it evened out.

Then Taylor came out and all 13,500 of us jumped up and down and screamed our lungs out. I had warned T that there would be a lot of girls screaming and that I would probably be one of those girls... and we all screamed louder than I thought we would.

Taylor put on an amazing show. Like blow your mind kind of show. Worth every penny.

Before the show I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't be able to hear Taylor. I knew everyone would be singing along and I wanted to sing along, too, but I didn't buy tickets to hear the girl next to me sing - I paid to hear Taylor sing. T told me that he was pretty confident that the speakers would be more than sufficient. And of course he was right. Taylor sang my favorite song "Our Song."

I loved that we were close enough that I could watch Taylor instead of watching her on the screen (though I did do both).

I asked to T to be in charge of taking a few pictures so I could just enjoy the show. I felt like SO many people were missing out on the real experience because they watched the whole thing through their camera. Don't worry, I told T not to take too many photos because I wanted him to enjoy the show, too.

I'm sure the Verizon Center event staff loves the T-Swizzle concert. The crowd is basically teen girls and their moms. So no big guys trying to cause trouble, hardly any alcohol sold so no drunk people, no mosh pits, and no crying or lost kids like there would be with a Disney on Ice show. Plus the security guards know they could take down 99% of the people in the crowd with one hand.

And guess what, Taylor did come sing right in front of us. And not just one song, but three!

Yeah, the tree was slowly rotating.

I love that Taylor was so nice. I mean she genuinely appreciated the crowd and even seemed surprised that this many people love her this much. It's wonderful that she's not jaded. She seemed so happy to be on stage performing. She looked like she was having the time of her life; I know I was.

She sang my favorite slow song "Last Kiss."

and part two (slightly less shaky)

Some musical artists are not nearly as good in concert as they are on the album. However, Taylor Swift sounds just as good in person as she does on her album. And the show (dancers, lighting, background videos, etc.) adds a lot to the songs. I wanted to sing along the whole time - and I mostly did - but sometimes the show part was so amazing that I forgot to sing and just stared instead. For instance, for the song "Haunted" there were giant bells on the ground and the song started with Taylor hitting the bells. Then the bells were raised and when the chorus started dancers dropped down out of the bells on ropes! It was like four minutes of aerial dancing. It was totally awesome! You can sort of see it in this video. The audio isn't great but watch for the dancer to drop out of the bell at the two minute mark. This song ends with the bell dropping over Taylor. Then 10 seconds later the bell lifts and Taylor is in a new outfit for the next song! Fun! There were about seven costume changes and multiple set changes, too.

Taylor had lots of fireworks, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Fireworks + Taylor = awesomeness.

I like this photo because it looks like the white light is emanating from the guitar player like he is an angel.

LOVE that sparkly guitar.

I really admire Taylor because she doesn't just sing. During this show she played the guitar, the banjo, the ukelele, and the piano. The girl is talented (also, I'm sure she practiced a ton!).

Taylor did two songs for her encore: "Fifteen" (which is the only Taylor Swift song I don't like) and "Love Story." For "Love Story" she got on this balcony that slowly moved across the whole Verizon Center.

The show ended about 11:15, so I was glad we chose to park at a garage that was open until midnight (no need to repeat a garage lock out - especially on a weekday!). My voice was really raspy from all the yelling and singing along. T and I both thought the concert was worth every penny.

So there were 13,500 of us at the show. Including ticket prices and merchandise sales I bet each person spent about $140 (I also bet that each person would say the experience was worth it). Which means Taylor raked in about $1,890,000. Not too shabby for one night's work. T and I, of course did our (smaller) share: T bought me a concert t-shirt. I have I mentioned lately how awesome T is and how much I love him?!