TAG

Hello everyone, and Happy Memorial Day!

I wish I could be on a dock right now, laying in the hot sun, and listening to country music.  That's what you're supposed to do on Memorial Day right?

You may be wondering about what my post title is all about.  Well, here's the big reveal.  Liz and I have joined a Tag Rugby team....yeah...I know. We know nothing about rugby, and have probably only watched 2 games. But our friend Ellie from work invited us to play on her team, and we decided to just try something new.  And boy, we are new.

Our team is called Victoriously Secret, and it is one giant team broken up into two smaller teams that play in two different competitive leagues.  There is an A-Team, and a B/C Team. Wild guess as to which one I am on. But surprise surprise, Liz and I aren't bad at all! Well Liz is actually good, she takes to sports like a fish in water.  I am good on defense, I have cat-like reflexes and I can tag people like crazy! But when it comes to the running with the ball part, and the throwing backwards part....I'm a C- at best.

The tag rugby we play is co-ed.  Tag is a no contact sport, so don't worry I probably won't get tackled.  Though some people have been known to break fingers while playing.

By pulling off the tags of the person with the ball, the play stops, and you have to line up  for another attack.  

The people on the team are so fun, and they have really embraced our lack of skill and ridiculous outbursts.  We have acquired many nicknames on the pitch, Yanks, Tex, Texans, Lauren-or-Liz-whoever-you-are, and my favorite one that Liz got called, Yankee Doodle. We had our first game last Thursday and we finished the first half down by 14 points :( But by the end of the game we had come back only to lose by 1 point, so we definitely improved. Liz scored 2 tries (like a touchdown) and was voted player of the game!! I was so proud of my little Yankee Doodle.


But me, well...while Liz makes America and especially Texas look awesome. I'm over to the side like...

                             

Emily and Maura surprised us at our first game! They were so proud

Anyway, enough about rugby! Time is flying by over here. I realized that I only have about 3ish months left on my visa.  That is crazy. I feel like I just got here.  I am sometimes asked by people if I plan on staying longer (especially by my friend JJ, he is begging me to stay, he loves me so much ).  The answer to this is, no. I am not planning to stay longer than my year long holiday visa.  I am ready to start a more permanent life back in Texas.  I miss Texas. A lot. I miss my dogs. I miss my car. I miss my family and my friends.  I just miss my home. As much as I feel like I have settled in here, I am still a foreigner here.  It's a strange feeling if you've never experienced it before.  

It's sunny outside, and I want to go enjoy it! So I'll finish with the traditional song.  This is Chasing the Light by Mat Kearney.

He is one of my favorite artists.  I love his voice, there is just something about it. It sounds so inviting. I love this song because it is how I felt coming here, and now how I feel knowing I will leave soon.  I feel like I do keep chasing the light, and I just keep trying to figure out where God wants me next.  This takes patience and it takes courage, two things that are really hard to find sometimes.   This song reminds me to look back and remember how scared I was of change in the past, and probably how scared I will be in the future as I keep changing.  It makes whatever is happening right now not seem so monumental.  Go get his album, the whole thing. It is great.  Thanks Jared Reaves for showing him to me all those years ago!


That's all for now,
Love Lauren

Paddy says what?!

Hey there!

I realize it has been a while again, but this time I have some kind of valid excuse I guess.  My friend Lance came to visit, then I went to Spain for a week, then my parents and Grandma Norma came to visit! Wahooo! It's been a very busy April.  I could write all about any of those things...but I'm not going to right now.

I have decided to devote this entry to IRELAND! "Lauren, you always talk about Ireland, jeez, pick a new topic".  Well no, you see I haven't talked about Ireland in the way I'm going to talk about Ireland today...you see? I have mainly talked about how I see life here, about ME in Ireland. Not this time folks...This time, I am going to teach you about this marvelous, weird, hilarious, stubborn, cold, windy, rainy, beautiful place that I call home...at least for the next 4 months.

I am in Galway, in the west of Ireland.

Irish Craic Vocabulary
"What's the Craic?" (pronounced crack...yeah, i know, scandalous) This can be translated into "What's up?" "What's going on?" This is said multiple times a day by lots of Irish.  I still have a hard time responding. I usually end up saying "oh, ya know, not a whole lot of craic at the moment." This always gets me a funny look or a laugh.
"Any Craic?" This can mean, "Any news to share?" or "Was whatever it was you were doing any fun?"
"Good Craic" or "No Craic" I have learned that craic can pretty much mean fun or news.

An example of a normal conversation with an Irish person:
Matt (shout out Mattie Cahill!) : "Hey Lauren, How ya keepin?"
Lauren: "Good now Matt. How was your weekend? Any Craic?"
Matt: "Of course! I'm Matt, King of the Craic!"


Ok, Matt would never say that, but you get the point.

  

Irish synonyms for "Great" or "Good"
There are so many awesome words they use to describe good things. I love them. This is my favorite part of their everyday vocab.
The simple question, "How are you?" or what they would say, "How ya keepin?" can be answered with:
"Good Now"...Ok, this is a little embarrassing. When I first got to Ireland, and I was waiting on tables in Coco cafe, customers would say this to me.  I was taken aback, and kept wondering why all of Ireland was hitting on me. Where I come from, if someone said this to you, it would be like "Good, Now that you're here" followed by a winky face. So you can imagine my confusion when women started saying it to me too. I suddenly realized it has nothing to do with being hit on.
"Mighty" This is my favorite response. I never expect it and it always makes me laugh.
"Grand" Very common response
"Fine and yourself?" Said very fast, almost like it's one word.

Tasty food, nice clothes, or a cool dance move can be described as "class"
Cool people that are "good craic" can be described as "sound"
If you want emphasize that you are mad, but you don't really want to cuss, "feck" is used, or "jaysus" or "arse" or "eejit" (idiot)
Something that is very expensive is described as "dear"
If a woman is a little crazy she is "for the birds"

When referring to a group of people, they do NOT say y'all. I get comments of my y'all using all the time. Even by people that have known me for months, they still think it's hilarious. Here, they say ye.
Yes, like "Hear Ye, Hear Ye!".  I'll get texts that say, "What are ye doing tonight?" And sometimes, they say "ye all". And when they say it fast, it sounds like ya'll  And I make sure they know it :)

Y'all will be happy to know that some of my Irish friends now say Y'all! Of course I think it is only when I'm around, and they are probably making fun of me a little bit, but I'll take it.  An Irish friend once told us, "If we make fun of you, you're in".  Well, Liz and I are DEFINITELY in. We have also been called "the two soundest Americans I've ever met". Probably the best compliment ever.

There is something about these Irish folk.  They are interesting.  Never have I met an entire country full of cool people.  I can count the number of Irish people that I don't like on one hand.  I think there is something in the genetic makeup of this island that makes them funny, musical (every Irish person can sing, or play an instrument and just plain cool.  But the part I love most about them is how generous they are.  They have welcomed me 100% percent into their lives, and offered up their friendship without any hesitation.  I will take some wind and rain if it means I get to live life with these wonderful people.

           And now for my blog song! Straight from my Dreamchasing playlist to you. This is one that my best friend Summer showed me.  I love it so much. When you come back down, by Nickel Creek.

"You got to leave me now, You got to go alone. You got to chase a dream, one that's all your own, before it slips away." That is exactly how I felt when moving here. That I had to chase this dream, or it really would slip away. There was a small window of time where I knew that if I didn't make this scary, ridiculous decision, I would never be able to do it again.  I'm so glad I did it.  

That's all for now,

More soon.

Love, Lauren

Oh yeah..I have a blog.

Yes folks, I am still alive, and yes, I am still in Ireland.

I'm sorry it's been so long. I've been living life, and have simply forgotten to write about it. Many apologies.

Here's what I have done since Christmas in a nutshell:

• Welcomed Mom and Dad over for Christmas! We had so much fun together. We also had a blast over at the Kavanaughs for Christmas dinner.  What an amazing family!

Playing with our musical crackers! 



Our chubby little Christmas tree! Santa found us in Ireland!

• New Years with the Clarkes! Highlight of the night was when we made them queso.  They had NEVER heard of queso before...we were stunned.

The Clarke's family friend Nathan loved queso  the most. And for that, we honor him.

These two are the best Champagne openers in the  Ireland.

Liz and I moved into a new apartment overlooking the Salthill prom.  We get to see a sandy beach everyday.  Though it is still way to cold to enjoy it :(

The view from our balcony! See the distant hills of the Burren...

Liz and I went to Cork for a long weekend.  We kissed the Blarney Stone and did some serious shopping at H&M.

Seriously, the break dancing at Blarney Castle has to stop. It's a real problem.

Liz's family came for a week, and we all had so much fun together.  I FINALLY got to two step.  Thank you  Robert! We celebrated Liz's 25th birthday on March 16th, and then we celebrated St. Patrick's Day on March 17th.  My awesome cousin Becca and her friend Jennifer came to visit for Paddy's too! We had so much fun.  Galway was such a great place to be for the holiday.  There was a parade down Shop street, and good Craic everywhere! For those of you that don't know, Craic is a term used here meaning, "fun" or "good times".  I will be having an Irish vocabulary lesson in my next blog.

Yes we are American, and Yes, we are shamelessly tacky on St. Paddy's day

My amazing friend Jen came to spend her spring break with me last week! We had a blast together.  Went to see Bunratty Castle, the Cliffs, Easter with the Clarkes.  It was the perfect week.

Easter egg hunt at the Clarke's place! It's our second home.  We love them so much!

And here we are, I hope I have adequately and quickly updated the world wide web on my life in Ireland for the last few months. A million tiny things happened in between all the big stuff, that I can't even begin to explain.  I am blessed by my coworkers, friends, and "family" over here on a daily basis.  The Lord has more than just allowed me to live here, he has given me a life here.  I miss everyone at home so much, but Galway has become a part of me now.   

I am now officially cold to my bones.  We live in a constant state of being freezing in our apartment.  Yes we could turn on the heater, but we learned from the last electricity bill that it is better to be cold than poor.  So on any given night you will see us shuffling around the apartment wearing multiple pairs of pants, 3 layers of shirts, and a hat of some kind..with a hot water bottle zipped up into your hoodie.  Just another way I am learning to appreciate the way things are at home. It was 80 degrees in Texas last week....I'm not jealous at all....

I leave you now with an entry in my dreamchasing playlist.  This one is a little different.  It is an Irish Ballad that I heard the other day.  I immediately fell in love with it and had to have it.  I can't get enough of this song.  It's just so beautiful.  This is the type of song you can hear in a pub anywhere in Galway when they are playing traditional music.  It is usually sung by an old man with white hair, and a knit cap on.  The bartenders and the musicians will "SHHHHH" everyone in the pub so the ballad singer can be heard.  I think it is simply beautiful.

It makes me stop in my tracks every time I hear it. Enjoy a bit of Ireland wherever you may be in this world.

More soon, 

I promise,

Love,

Lauren

Holy Crap it's Christmas

Good Morning,

Though I stayed up late last night catching up on American TV shows that I've fallen behind on, I popped out of bed this morning at 9:30.  It already feels like Christmas morning to me.  I am beyond excited, and I'll tell you why...MY PARENTS ARE COMING TODAY!

Yep, you read that right. Momma Karen and Daddy Pat are on their way right now to the Emerald Isle.  Their plane lands at 11:05 in Dublin then they are taking the bus to Galway.  I am so ready to hug my parents. Now it really feels like Christmas to me.

Christmas in Galway has been one of the best experiences thus far.  This town decorates EVERYTHING. The streets are draped in lit up garlands, the shops stick Christmas trees wherever they can,  a giant Christmas market has taken over Eyre Square, and Christmas jumpers are worn by everyone! I must say, the festive jumpers are great, they have become somewhat of a game for me and Liz. Almost like slug bug. Some jumpers remind us of this...

Mr. Mark Darcy being a dweeb in his favorite reindeer jumper. Thank you Bridget Jones Diary

And some jumpers and the men/women wearing them make us feel like this...

But we still love them, no matter how stupid :)

One of the best things about being here for Christmas time is that I am learning all these new Christmas songs! At home it's the same ones every year, which I love of course, but here there are a few I've never heard.  One is called driving home for Christmas, and the whole country goes mad for it! 

They were shocked when I told them I had never heard it before. And to be honest, I'm not too crazy about it. But for culture's sake you must listen.

And this next one has become one of my absolute favorite songs. There is just something about it. It's on the radio every 10 minutes, and I'm not even close to being tired of it. 

Try to ignore his teeth. Maybe even minimize your screen during the video, it's not a good video, but the song is great.

Here is a little video I found that really shows Christmas in Galway. And it has a sweet message to go along with it. 

Ok, I'm done with the videos for now. I got a little excited. Can you tell that I'm in the Christmas spirit? I have watched White Christmas at least 4 times.  Which to be honest, that's kind of a slow year for me. Usually I'm at least in the double digits by now. I lied..here's another video...

If you haven't seen White Christmas, go find it and watch it and fall in love. 

Enough with the Christmas Lauren! Move on already! I can read your minds :) Life in Galway has been incredible lately. I feel like I have made some real - honest to goodness - miss them when they aren't around - can't wait to tell them about my day - friends.  Random trips to McDonald's for McFlurrys end up taking 3 hours because we just can't stop talking (yes Liz and Paul I'm talking about yall). I get to not only spend time with friends, but their family as well. Our friend Paul has had us over to his family's house a few times for Sunday dinner and to watch a movie.  I can't explain how nice it feels to be in a real family home after being away from one for so long. And his family is so loving and so fun. 

I'm sitting here in my apartment drinking my morning coffee, and waiting to get the call from my mom telling me that their plane has landed and they are in Ireland. I am so excited I feel I might cry.  I feel like up until now I have taken for granted being home for Christmas surrounded by family.  Usually, whether we are in Allen, TX or Overland Park, KS, the house is jammed with loud hungry Neats and we are just laughing for days.  I hate that I am going to be away from that this year. 

I can picture it now... We are all sprawled out in a living room somewhere, making the hardest decision known to man...what Christmas movie to put on...Dad yells "SCROOGE" from somewhere in the back of the room (he's playing minesweeper on the computer so he must yell from a distance)...Dave is standing ready to put whatever movie in we decide on.  He doesn't care what we choose, as long as we just freaking decide already.  I'm demanding White Christmas like I always do.  Mom jumps in "no Lauren, not again, we HAVE to watch something else".  Lenna and Jason are just laughing on the couch about who knows what, but Jason looks up just in time to say, "NO Lauren, no, not again." And finally Dave just puts on whatever the kiddos want (usually Buddy the elf).  Then we all sit down to watch...but spend maybe 5 minutes watching the movie, and the rest of the time just talking over it, and wondering why we even put it on in the first place. 

Man I miss my wonderful family. 

Now here's a song that my wonderful, talented, amazing friend Robert Kelly wrote and performs.  He is an amazing musician, and an even more amazing person.  This song makes me miss Texas though...listen to it and you can feel how much love is written into the song. click the link for it!   https://soundcloud.com/backdownsouth/robert-kelly-im-coming-home

Ok, love yall to the moon and back!

Merry Christmas 

Lauren

Gone with the Wind and Rain...and now I'm Back!

SHE'S ALIVE!!!
I know y'all have been waiting in eager anticipation for this blog post that I keep promise is on it's way.
Well wait no longer my friends! I am finally writing it!!!

So much has changed in the almost 2 months since my last entry.  Once you get a glimpse of what my crazy life has been like you will understand why I wasn't able to blog like I should.

Since the previous entry I have:

• Moved houses twice (in the same week mind you)
• Changed jobs twice (also within the same week)
• Welcomed a dear, sweet, beautiful, kind, hilarious partner in crime to Ireland to live with me
• Spent a magical week with one my best friends in the whole world who flew all the way from Houston to spend Thanksgiving with me...How could I be so blessed?!
• Went to Scotland!!!! 
• Had an American Thanksgiving in Saint Andrews Scotland. Just like the Pilgrims/Indians intended.
• Got to spend a wonderful few days with my lil cousin Becca. I love her so much.
• Danced in an ancient castle under the stars in Scotland
• Got a new ear piercing! (sorry mom and dad, I forgot to show you on skype the other night. Don't worry, I don't look like a gypsy or anything)

Of course thousands more tiny things have happened that I don't have the time or space to mention.  It has been a trying few months.  I have had my highest highs, and my lowest lows during this last few months.  At one point we were almost homeless.  God has taken care of me throughout this entire time, and taught me more than I thought I needed to know.  He has given me the best roommate I could ask for.  That is right, many of you have heard, but now you are hearing it from me, Liz Atwell is officially living in Ireland!!!!!

For those of you who don't know Liz, I feel sorry for you.  She is amazing in every way! Liz and I met in college during the Spring of 2009 when I was randomly added to her organization as a replacement for a girl that quit.  We were assigned to be prayer partners, and we immediately hit it off.  And now, almost 4 years later, we are roommates in Galway, Ireland.  It's amazing how things work out. 

I am now working at a place called McCambridge's. I work up in the office helping with different daily accounting things. I do some filing, answer some phone calls, randomly have psych myself up to speak over the intercom. And it turns out...

 Liz works there too! She is working as a Christmas Hamper maker. It is such a fantastic place to work. We have met some of the nicest people, and our bosses are hilarious.  Luke, our manager is from Australia and we come home every day with some new random statement he's made. 

McCambridge's is on the busiest pedestrian street in Galway City, called Shop Street.  It is a coffee shop, restaurant, deli, gourmet food, wine, chocolate shop.  Basically anything you want they  have. And we get a discount! Life couldn't be better. 

I have so much more to talk about! Ashley's visit! Our trip to Scotland.  That will have to wait till the next entry. Which will happen very very soon. 

Now for the next installment of the Dreamchasing playlist! This song is from one of my favorite bands; The Weepies.  This song really describes what the last few months have been like. Listen to the lyrics...

"I can't really say why everybody wishes they were somewhere else, But in the end the only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself. You and me, walk on...'cause you can't go back now."

Not gonna lie, I'm a little weird-ed out by the whole puppet situation in the music video. But we will have to deal with it together.  To be fair puppets aren't used enough in music videos.

That is all for now friends.

I promise, I will be back soon. 

Love to all

Lauren

24

Good Morning Friends,

Well, my birthday has come and gone! I turned 24 on October 12 (this day has been universally accepted by the world's scholars as the best day of the year).  I woke up laying in bed waiting to feel older or wiser or different.  But unfortunately all I felt was hungry :) Luckily my sweet roommate Kasey was game for some birthday breakfast, and we went to Lynch's Cafe and had a very filling (very meaty) Irish breakfast.

 I'm not going to lie, I have been a little worried about having my birthday here in Ireland.  Birthdays for me are about being with family and old friends.  They usually begin with an early morning "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" as my dad throws both dogs on my bed and then runs away. I was dreading having to be away from all my loved ones.  But I was so taken care of by my new friends here!

Kasey bought me all types of birthday swag for me to wear, including a tiara and a giant awesome button, tiny umbrellas for our drinks and some wine.  And while I slept my roommates covered the whole living room with balloons! It was such a nice surprise to wake up to Friday morning.  The day just continued to get better after breakfast as we spent some time (and a little too much money) at a bookstore. 

I spent the rest of the day lounging in my sweats watching my favorite old musical Gigi.  Thank you mom for brainwashing me as a young child.  I instinctively watch this movie every time I feel just the tiniest bit homesick.  I have the entire thing memorized.  If you haven't seen it, here is a nice montage to convince you to see it now. Right now...

Then after a beautiful long walk along the water with Kasey, we all went out for my birthday dinner.  I felt so lucky and I sat at a table with all my new friends! Anne, Maura, Emily, Avril, Kasey, Greer and Hannah.  Funny to think that 3 weeks ago I was worried I would be eating a birthday sandwich all alone talking on skype the whole day.  Well, we had a lovely dinner, then some of us went to go see this awesome cover band called Mass.  I can't resist a good cover band.  So much great bad dancing to see and do :)

My sweet little birthday muffin! And a beautiful Hannah in the background :)

Turning 24 reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite books, One Day by David Nicholls.  "...you feel a little bit lost right now about what to do with your life, a bit rudderless and oar less and aimless but that's okay that's alright because we're all meant to be like that at twenty-four."

That's exactly what I feel like.  And it's not a bad thing.  This is my time to feel like this.  I can't make life move any faster or make fate catch up to my timing.  Why would I even want to?  If things had gone according to MY plan I would be sitting in an office somewhere in Texas doing who knows what.  My plans are kind of boring and small compared to what life really has in store. 

Anyway, time for the real fun, because the day after my birthday LENNA AND SERGIO CAME!!!!! How much do I love my family? I can't even explain how happy I was to see them at the train station.  I love that I have officially been in Ireland for a month, and I've already welcomed visitors.  My family rocks.

We had just the best time.

One of the days they were here we got to take a day tour to the cliffs of Moher and the Burren.  It was such a beautiful drive.

And for those of you who are looking for your Irish love, come to the Matchmaker Bar during the month of September for the Matchmaker Festival!!!!

And the Cliffs of Moher were just incredible...I can't really explain how amazing they were. You feel really small standing there peaking over the edge. 

Look at that little guy up there?

And this sign didn't really help to calm your fears...

...yeah...don't get too close to the edge.

All in all, I had a wonderful time with my family.  I was so happy to share this town with them.  I think Sergio might take Irish folk dancing class once he gets back to DC, and Lenna might try to play the fiddle. They loved all the street musicians and live music every night.   I was so sad when they had to leave though :(

Since they left my life has been interesting.  New things keep popping up in my life that I didn't expect.  I know I am being vague...But it's peaking your interest right?

Anyway, So many things are up in the air right now, like job, home, Christmas oh my...I am praying that I can relinquish control of things that I have no say over.  I can't make anyone do anything, as much as I like to think I can.  This moving overseas is a tricky thing, you think you have things figured out, and then something comes out of the fog and kicks you in the shin reminding you that you haven't dealt with it yet.  This week I have learned A LOT about myself. Some not so great things I need to deal with.  Things I thought I had figured out, but I guess I haven't. 

Enough with that, lets get to what y'all really read this blog for...THE PLAYLIST!!! Oh I would never forget it. I think it's my favorite part of this.

This song is actually from the Disney movie Brave that came out a few months ago.  I saw it in theaters with my mom and just fell in love with the music.  I loved this song especially because it just sounds so Irish! And Mumford & Sons is in it...that helps too. 

It is just a fun song. Makes you feel lighthearted and free.  And that girls crazy curly hair is just inspiring in itself. Props to Disney for FINALLY having a curly headed princess.

It makes me want to find a horse, ride that horse, then dance in some meadow somewhere with a dog leaping around my feet. Can you see it? I can...

That is all for now,

Love y'all

Lauren

Oh, and tonight I will be watching the Aggies btho LSU! WHOOP!!! Just watched about 13 videos to get myself pumped up about this. I expect to hear Kyle Field all the way in Galway. Gig'em Ags!

Maroon Madness

Good Evening All!

It is a rainy day in Galway, just like every day really :) And I am laying on my bed after a long day of work.  I am pooped.  Things have been happening! I now have 3 new roommates, all from the States.  My actual roommate is named Kasey and we get along so well! We both have a love for New Girl and Once Upon a Time, this is going to work out fine :) I got transferred to the other location for work this week, so I've been trying to figure out how to get there and  back.  Long story short, the cafe I work at now is about a 30 min walk from my (temporary) apartment.  While this is very annoying, the walk looks like this for most of the way..


Not even kidding...ocean with a view of cliffs and islands in the distance.

So it is hard to complain about that. Work is going well, I was a bit sad to leave the shop in city centre because I had started to make friends with some people there.  One of my them even invited me to watch the All Ireland Hurling match with her and her friends last weekend! What is Hurling you ask?  No it is not something you compete in after you've had one to many pints.  It is an Irish sport, said to be the fastest sport in the world!  And this year Galway was in the finals! The whole city was decked out in maroon and people were pumped! It was Galway Vs. Kilkenny in a finals rematch (you see, the original finals were 2 weeks ago, but the game ended in a tie, so they had to play the game again).  Unfortunately, Galway was defeated by Kilkenny, I learned that Kilkenny wins almost every year, and everyone is sick of it. Here's a look at Hurling...

Imagine a mix between Lacrosse, Gaelic Football, and some random Basketball rules thrown in.

Since the last blog post, a holiday has come and gone here in Ireland.  A lesser known, very celebrated, definitely non-church holiday.  Yes you guessed it, the day known as Arthur's Day! A day dedicated to celebrating the birth of Guinness beer and the wonderful man, Arthur Guinness who created it.  Basically the town went a little crazy and people started celebrating with breakfast.  Initially the first Arthur's Day (the first Arthur's Day was back in 2009, and it was celebrating the 250th birthday of Guinness) was celebrated with a series of music events.  That's still what happens in Galway, and bands were EVERYWHERE! There was a secret band playing at one of the music pubs that night, a pub called Monroe's.  And I heard it on good authority that Mumford and Sons was going to be the secret band....I'm sure you're thinking "yeah right Lauren"...I know, that's what I was thinking. But I had to go anyway and make sure I wasn't THAT girl. You know, the girl that missed out on the secret Mumford and Sons concert in Galway.

Well, I went with my new friend Emily and we were all pumped up to see who it was. Up until the very last second I thought Mumford and Sons was coming on.  Until this band walked out.

The crowd went wild! People started freaking out! Dancing ensued and cameras started rolling!!!! Emily and I just stared at each other wondering who the heck this band was.  Turns out it was a very famous Scottish band, ironically enough named Texas...This of course had me a little bit giddy as I felt very special to be from the place this band decided to call themselves.  They were very good, and the girl had an amazing voice. But alas, I was let down when it wasn't Mumford and Sons.

Things have been a little crazy lately.  With moving in to a temporary apartment, changing jobs, making friends and really settling into this country.  I feel very at home, and safe in this city.  People are so nice, I may look like a tourist every day, but I don't feel like one.  I have friends :) Real friends...That ask me to dinner and movies, and who want to make dinner with me.  Friends that want to throw me a birthday party and take me to their hometowns.  I feel so blessed.  How did I walk into this adventure?  It was worth every ounce of fear to be here. 

Don't get me wrong, I am still afraid.  But their is an overwhelming peace that overshadows the fear.  This feeling that I will be able to handle whatever it is that gets thrown at me.  God has protected me and guided me through everything, and every doubt I had was worth this feeling of knowing he is near me and taking care of me. 

Ok, for the next song from my Dreamchasing Playlist......This one is from one of my FAVORITE bands, Needtobreathe. I saw them live last March (with Laura!) and they were phenomenal.  This song is called Slumber, and it just plain rocks.  I love the way it starts out kind of quiet, like he's waking you up from a nap, then it just grows and booms into this big loud song.

While I'm walking down the street I like to pretend I'm in this song's music video.  Like it is my personal theme music.  And yes, I always make sure and open my eyes right when he says, "baby open up your eyes". Because he is talking to me...because he is my boyfriend...right? Right.

Ok, that is all for now. I love you all. Thanks for reading! I love getting comments and your encouragement goes a long way. 

Love,
Lauren