T.S.

Leaving on my run this morning, I was hoping that some inspiration would hit me over the course of the few miles for something to write about. I have a few notes stowed away in my phone,  but none of the topics felt right, and so I was hopeful that my run would spark a good blog post.

Yet as I hit the 'shuffle' button on the Taylor Swift profile on Spotify, all I could do was reminisce as each song brought up a flurry of emotions and/or memories. And I thought to myself, no Kait, you can't write a blog post about Taylor Swift, no one wants to read that.

And then I thought, hold on, this is my blog though and I can actually write about whatever I want.

Now you may be thinking: "Kait seriously maybe it's time to reevaluate your life priorities, you're 29 years old and still fan-girling over a female pop artist?" 

Highly disagree. At this point you should know I'm a little bit crazy, and a lot more crazy when it comes to music.

It's on in my ears/apartment/car for several hours a day; I prefer music over T.V. New song releases are usually the best thing about my Fridays, and I'm extremely passionate about a solid Spotify playlist.

And when it comes to T.Swift - well, I'm maximum crazy. Like drive my husband insane giving him updates he doesn't care about kind of crazy.

However the reason I want to write today is because I want to give you the 'why' behind the crazy. Because the past ten years have tons of memories tied to her music, and honestly it's kind of cool to reflect back on. So just hear me out.

18 years old: Taylor released her first self-titled album, I was a freshman in college in '06. It was pure innocent country, and my dorm roommate (Amy) and I would try to out-sing each other to her song 'Tim McGraw'. It was fabulous and precious.

I think the best caption for any pictures from our freshman year is 'wow.'

20 years old: 'Fearless' came out my Junior year of college in '08, and 'Love Story' and every remix of it took over the speakers at the volleyball house I lived in. It's also a song I would eventually walk down the aisle to six years later, to a guy who at the time was half the reason I cried to Taylor Swift songs in the first place (sorry babe, but let's not act like our relationship has a fairy tale beginning).

22 years old: 'Speak Now' was her third, fall of 2010. I distinctly remember laying on the floor of my bedroom in Fort Collins, Colorado, in the midst of a hard/weird transition from Undergrad to Graduate school, and listening to the songs on repeat. This was the first time ever uprooting and moving to an entirely new state without knowing anyone outside of Andrew, and the process of figuring out how to do so gracefully was made a little easier with the help of Tay.

24 years old: I will never forget when 'Red' came out, because it came at one of the harder transitions in my/our life. October 2012, I was living in Columbia, MD, and neither Andrew and I were doing fantastic. Columbia wasn't really a town for us to thrive in, although we didn't realize it at the time. We hadn't made many friends, were both adjusting to working full time jobs, etc. Half the songs on Red made me cry - like really cry - and probably still would if I was in an emotional mood.

26 years old: '1989' came in hot, with a full-on switch to Pop. My life at the time was full of wedding planning and stress (Fall, 2014) and I was psyched for a new album to distract me. I won't lie, I remember listening to Shake it Off on my drive home from work and being a little confused. Then I listened two more times, and started dancing in my seat. Then I listened two more times, and realized she was a genius.

It's been over 1,000 days since she has released new music guys. Somewhere in there (July, 2015), I have one of the most favorite memories of my life; when my sister and I saw her live in Chicago on her "1989" tour. Emotional overload. I won't get into the details but it was an amazing experience.

So yes, I just wrote about my musical history with Taylor Swift. Because I love her music, and the amazing memories and feelings I have tied to them. From car parties on the way to downtown Foco, to 26.2 mile races, from dancing at our wedding, to my now 12 hour flights home. She's been there through it all.

Anyways, new single tomorrow (tonight for my U.S pals) and new album coming in November, and I'm stoked. Like, will most likely wake up at 4 am tomorrow and start listening to it on repeat kind of stoked. You don't have to like her or her music, but don't forget that she writes every one of her songs to some degree; you can't deny that she's one talented babe.

Cheers - 

Kait

A few quick things

Let’s just say that yesterday, I learned the hard way that peanut butter cheesecake is not a great pre-run fuel. Noted.

My wonderful boyfriend was thoughtful enough to give me an entire cheesecake for my birthday earlier this week. And although it is by far one of my favorite treats.... today I had to stick the rest of it in my freezer to prevent anymore stuff-my-face-pre-run catastrophes.

I'm hoping I forget it's there.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful evening for a run, and I jammed out hard to my new favorite song – Highway Don't Care – off of Tim McGraw’s new album. It features my girl Taylor Swift and is slower, but I LOVE it. It makes me cry sometimes.

Speaking of T-swift, I don’t think I’ve ever shown you guys the calendar that Andrew got me for Christmas.

Yep. I'm as creepy about Taylor Swift as she is about singing about her ex-boyfriends.
Long hair.

February is a #plankaday month for me, as I loved the results that I got when I did it this past summer. My time on the first of the month was 2:40, and I’d love to be pushing 4 minutes by the end of the month, but that may be wishful thinking.

#planksohard

The other day I decided to step out of the comfort zone of my morning oats and whip up something special:

I threw two eggs, spinach, artichokes and some avocado into a pan and then served it up to myself open face, with a dash of hot sauce on top. It was delish, and my plan is to make it again this weekend.

oh that's super attractive Kait. Why do you put up hideous pictures of yourself so often?
I'm not sure.

AND while on the topic of delicious food, make sure to enter my Trader Joe’s giftcard giveaway by 12 p.m. E.S.T tomorrow! I will announce the winner this weekend.

Because I love you guys, and want to make you're next grocery shopping trip even more pleasant! :)

Cheers to the (Almost) weekend!

Birds, Birthdays & Blogiversaries (and a GIVEAWAY)

Man, what a whirlwind of weekend. Let’s do some quick catching up before we address the fact that as of today, I’m a quarter of a century old. #yikes

How ‘bout those Ravens?

I have NEVER experienced the kind of electricity that Baltimore had on Sunday night. I’m fairly certain every single bar was at maximum capacity, with the Seven Army Nation chant echoing loud and clear throughout the city. 

The Bears may always be #1 in my heart, but it was still super awesome to witness the Ravens win it all, and to be a part of the madness.

Second on the agenda. Tomorrow, February 6^th, is my 1 year Blogiversary! I cannot say how blessed I feel to have this joy of writing in my life, and the privilege to share it with all of you. To my surprise, my blog has grown a lot the past year, and my hope is that it will continue to do so throughout 2013.

One thing I wanted to do to celebrate was to host my first GIVEAWAY!!!! I brainstormed for awhile, and decided that the logical move was to give away something that represents me the best:

I'm giving away a Trader Joe's Store $25 Gift Card!!

I love to eat. I love experimenting with new recipes, and I LOVE grocery shopping. Trader Joe's is basically my second home out here in Maryland.  So, to show my appreciation for this awesome store and for my awesome readers, I would love to give one of my readers a free trip to the grocery store.

To enter, just leave me a comment below telling me your favorite food, why you love Trader Joe's, or why you enjoy reading my blog. This Friday, February 8^th, I will select a random winner using a random number generator, and ship off that gift card to you.

Last but not least… I’m 25 today!! Baltimore decide to celebrate by throwing me a parade!

The Ravens parade was super fun, super crowded, but a great way to spend my birthday.

My amazing coworkers bombarded me with gifts and made me feel extra special. Now when I sing along to ‘22’ by Taylor Swift I have to change it to 25 but that’s OK. I can deal with that.

CHEERS to being one year older and wiser, more amazing memories, and of course, those purple birds.