So... Where the Heck Have I Been? | Discussing New York, Taylor Swift, and More (It's a Long One...)

Cool mural in LAUT, aka the cheapest Michelin Star restaurant you'll find in NYC (it's so good guys, but don't forget to reserve beforehand)

Hi there! Gosh, it feels so foreign to open up this post and start writing because it has apparently almost been two months since I last posted on my little nook of the Internet??? I can't quite wrap my head around that mind-boggling fact and I feel really bad about it. The first month, I was away because of exams and all that school stuff. I really needed to focus and study for those because I didn't want my grades to slip and after all, school comes first. The month after that was because of my trip to New York. I was supposed to be back and blogging and making videos as soon as exams were over, but some old friends of my dad's came to stay (they're still here actually, they're downstairs in the family room talking as I type) and we had to show them around Canada. OK, well not from coast to coast, but around Ontario (Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal...).

I think I posted on my Facebook page that I was going to be away from blogging and YouTube for a little while until school was over, but I forgot to extend that message to Twitter and, well, here so I apologise about my lack of communication. I was just a bit overwhelmed by all the school stuff. To be honest, I think the break was good for me because I got some time away to recharge and to come up with content that I'm more proud of.

a new direction

I haven't really figured out a way to describe it as the only writing I've really done in my time off has been on my Taylor Swift Tumblr, so my vocabulary has been reduced to, well, Tumblr vocab. That being said, I want to take a more personal approach to my blogging and write more text posts about things I've discovered whether that be in fashion or just life in general. I also want to create more content about trends that I find interesting and be more articulate in how I describe them. I just really want to put more effort into my blog so I feel more confident about sharing it, you know?

There are a lot of things I want to do this summer (that full list will come in a post later today) and I'm keen on accomplishing them, but if one thing's for certain, I'm going to make it so I'm proud of this little baby by the end of the summer, that's for sure.

I'm going to try my hardest to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays as I've tried in the past, so hopefully with the time I have on my hands now, that will happen. As for my YouTube channel, I'll be posting on Sundays as per usual. Except, you know, I haven't been posting on Sundays for the past like eight weeks or so. #casual

the lights are so bright but they never blind me-e-e

The closest I'll ever get to a photo with Taylor Swift (taken at Madame Tussaud's)

As I mentioned before, I went to New York again just recently. Out of the three times I've been to this incredible city, this would have to be my favourite, for sure. I went because I wanted to take a workshop at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology - it's a really cool fashion college that I want to go to after high school) to get a better feel of the school and such. I'll do a full-length post going into detail about what I did there and how found it later on in the week so if any of you were interested, you'll know more about it before going in.

We were away from Canada for a week, but we spent one day shopping at the Woodbury Premium Outlets (which were pretty underwhelming, honestly), five days in the city (four of those were taken up by my workshop), and then a day in Newark at the Jersey Gardens because my parents were so dissatisfied with Woodbury. LOL, my parents are hilarious. I vlogged the majority of it, so I'll be putting up that video this upcoming weekend after I edit all that footage.

taylor swift slayed me on july 6th

We'd been there all day and it was HOT, so excuse the shiny faces, haha

I got the privilege to see my queen, Taylor Swift last week and I still haven't recovered from it. I saw my hero with my best friend, B and gosh, it was such an amazing night. I'll never forget it. The night before, we were up until about 3 am finishing up our costumes even though I started them in March. We also baked chai cookies (following this recipe) to hand out to people before the show the night before which made my house smell super nice.

http://alohalilyrose.tumblr.com/post/123380104993/causingcatastrophe13-hey-guys-so-were-going

(if you want to stalk me on Tumblr though, it's causingcatastropheat2am now, not 13)

OK, well, it was mainly B who baked because I don't bake, like ever, so I'm quite terrible at it. Like I can follow and recipe and whatever if I get enough sleep, but I have no patience for that, man. So I'll blame it on the sleep, but when we were baking the chai cookies, it was quite the ordeal. I preheated the oven but what I forgot was that we store a bunch of pans and stuff in there when it's not in use (which is about 95% of the time), so I didn't take any of it out and nearly burned down my house. I was also told to measure out some salt but instead of putting it in the dough, I put it in the icing.

Very intelligent, Juliana, very intelligent.

My eyes are closed but that's okay because @taylorswift is in town!!! @taylornation #1989tourottawa

A photo posted by Juliana (@stylegeneris) on Jul 6, 2015 at 11:32am PDT

Anyway, we got to the arena about five hours early (I was at the Ottawa show) dressed in our costumes with our signs and all, and I was just so excited. We went around taking pictures with the trucks, with other fans that I've seen on Tumblr before, and it was just really great. I'm not going to lie, it was a bit awkward at first because everyone who was already there was a bit older than us and they all looked kind of intimidating, but once we met Liz, that nervousness just disappeared and I felt a lot more comfortable.

Here with Liz the Lobster @taylornation13 #1989TourOttawa pic.twitter.com/XwvStN7Ehb

— Juliana (@StyleGeneris) July 6, 2015

About an hour before the show, we'd kind of formed a line ish in front of the gate that we were supposed to be at and Taylor started soundchecking Bad Blood and I full on FREAKED OUT. The whole energy in the arena changed and gosh, it was incredible. Anyway, after that, we got through security or whatever you call it (one of our tickets actually didn't work for the strangest reason because I swear our tickets were legit, but we begged and the nice man let us through), we headed straight to the Taylor Nation booth, met Kevin (I was super awkward and shy, but like I knew who he was OK), then got to our seats, and met the Tumblr Swifties who were sitting right next to us. If you're reading this right now, which I highly doubt, but if you are, I apologise for accidentally whacking you all night. It wasn't intentional, I promise and I'm not usually that savage.

Anyway, Vance Joy was absolutely incredible and god, Taylor was just out of this world. I cried so much when she started with Welcome to New York and I just had no chill, man, none at all. I'm not going to go into too much detail because I think this Taylor section is already getting too long, but it was quite simply-put the best night of my life. I got to share it with two of my favourite people in the world (one not knowing who I am, aha) and I am so, so lucky to have gotten the privilege to see her and it was just so, so good. Words can't quite describe how good it was.

I took about seven photos total and one video of Taylor singing the Enchanted/Wildest Dreams mashup the whole chunk of Taylor's part of the night because I was too busy dancing, jumping up and down, singing, and screaming all night. I think I regret it a bit because I don't have a billion photos to show people, but all in all, I'd give a hell of a lot to go to another Taylor Swift concert, that's for sure. Take me Toronto, anyone? Haha, jokes.

sophomore year? check.

I am so incredibly happy to be done with school. It's been nearly a month, but my summer hasn't officially begun until today, so my excitement still lives on. The last few weeks of exams, big tests, and projects were tough since I put so much pressure on myself to succeed, but in the end, everything worked out well and I'm really happy about that.

Just a few days ago, I got my report card and it turns out, my average didn't slip from last year which was very, very good to find out. I mean, I'll have two science classes next year that I'm not exactly prepared for, but that's what summer is for, isn't it? To get prepared for the classes you'll have in the fall by studying loads.

Not.

Anyway, I'm just glad that 10th grade is over so I can move on to better (and scarier) things. It's kind of crazy to think that I'm halfway done high school, though. It feels like I just walked through the halls freshman year yesterday, not two years ago. I guess time flies when you're having fun.

lots to look forward to

I have exactly one month until my 16th birthday (a biggie!) and I'm planning on making it one hell of a month. Me saying that I'll make it one hell of a month might've just jinxed it, but you know, we'll see how it goes. Here's to hoping I'll be productive!

Has anyone seen any of the 1989 tour yet? Do you have any requests for posts or videos? What have you been up to lately? Leave your comments down below and I'll be sure to write back!

Thank you so much for reading!

- J

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