I think I first realized I wanted to be in country music and be an artist when I was 10. And I started dragging my parents to festivals, and fairs, and karaoke contests, and I did that for about a year before I came to Nashville for the first time. I was 11 and I had this demo CD of me singing Dixie Chicks and Leanne Rimes songs.

When you're 25 or 30, you know, you can't wear lime-green eye shadow anymore.

I want someone to say, "I love you and that's all I really know." That's the girly girl in me.

I suffer from girlnextdooritis where the guy is friends with you and that's it.

I think that it's okay to be mad at someone who hurt you. This isn't about, like, the pageantry of trying to seem like nothing affects you.

Maybe you won't find a place where you fit in for a very long time, but you eventually will.

Every girl on the planet has insecurities. It helps me to know that some of the most beautiful people in the world wake up some days and don't think they're pretty. As sad as that is, it's good to know that a problem you think is your own is actually something every girl faces. Happiness and confidence are the prettiest things you can wear.