CHOOSING YOUR REFLECTION TITLE: Warriors of Love DURATION: 27:44 Getting married is an event that holds a different meaning for everyone. For some, itÕs based on religious traditions, and for others itÕs a validation of an earlier choice they made to live with that special someone they love.Ê Hi, IÕm Lauren, and welcome to Choosing Your Reflection; a series of discussions that reflect upon the reasons we have for choosing our wedding day outfits.Ê Our guests are diverse, but they all share a common journey.Ê As they share their stories, theyÕll help us unravel the mystique that exists around choosing that special outfit, and what they learned about themselves along the way. Lauren: IÕm excited to introduce this week's guests, musical artists HannaH and Chef Bliss, also known as the group HannaH's Field. Their work has been described as unhurried music that urges listeners to connect with each other and the earth. They have songs in regular rotation on Sirius XM, The Joint and their music also charted number 11 on the Relix Jam Bands radio chart - thatÕs Music for the Mind for those who might not be familiar. Their newest album, Crystal Vision has been described as a collection of song elixirs, something we can all use given the recent events in the world. So thank you again HannaH and Chef Bliss for joining us! HannaH: Thank you for having us. ItÕs an honor. Lauren: I am so excited to hear more about your music, and IÕd like to start off with learning a little bit about how you both met and the song that you wrote, HannaH, for your wedding vows as well. HannaH: Sure. I was going to music school at the Hartford Conservatory and Chef Bliss had just come back from traveling around the country. Chef Bliss: Yeah. I had been cooking all over É the French Quarter, Louisiana, Florida Keys, Georgia, Oregon, Arizona. But prior to that I had been in a lot of bands playing music. And I had gone to a performance at the school and my friends ,they were like, ÒOh, you gotta meet this girl, Hannah! Hannah É she's looking for a drummer.Ó They were trying to get me a gig. You know, they're like, ÒShe needs a drummer for her band.Ò So É HannaH: The running joke in the music industry is you can never keep a drummer, you know? So I always say I had to marry one in order to keep the drummer in my band! But yeah, we met and then exchanged numbers. And he came over to get a demo and we connected there and É he didn't make the audition at first though! Chef Bliss: ÔCause I was cooking nights, you know? I was working weekends and nights doing the chef's life. And you know, we're talking on the phone and Hannah's like, ÒOh, weÕre playing this weekend. We're gonna be over here and ÉÓ I'm like ÒI can't commit. It's not even worth wasting your time auditioning for the band because I can't even play these shows. I'm working all the time.Ó But then Hannah was like ÒWell, you know, I do have a practice space if you ever want to, like, you know, get together and jam.Ó I'm like, ÒUh huh! We should get together!Ó HannaH: Yeah! There was flirtation happening during the whole talk about auditioning process for sure. Chef Bliss: Yeah, the vibes were high! Lauren: So how did it progress from there obviously, since you guys sort of started to vibe in that way? And then how did it progress to where we are now? HannaH: You know, honestly, like once we went on our first date and got together, we were just together after that. It was É it was just so easy and real. And I think we both just knew. Yeah. So it just É we were together since then. Chef Bliss: But also that being said too you know, I was cooking, IÕd go afterwork, you know, be like the roadie, see her band play, whatever. We would still like be at home and jam on the porch or whatever you know, but not really play out live because I was still cooking, working nights in restaurants and stuff. We got married and moved to Oregon, and then started playing out as a duo. And then from like, really like our marriage point on started our life together not only in matrimony, but also in music. It was like a musical matrimony too because you know, it's really like É I think that love is the fuel for it. Lauren: Why did you guys decide to move to Oregon? Was there anything behind that? HannaH: Yes, so when I had met Chef Bliss, he had lived out there for a little while. And when we were dating, we'd be like hiking out in the woods. And he'd say, ÒThis is a beautiful waterfall. But if we were in Oregon, there'd be this huge mountain behind it. And the waterfall would be, you know, 100 more feet up in the air.Ó And then I had a friend that actually moved there to check out the music scene because there was a good original music scene out there. You know, you think New York City and you think L.A., but there was just a different kind of music scene there. And we were in Connecticut at the time and there wasn't much going on here. So I went out there by myself. And Chef Bliss owned a restaurant at the time. And he's like, ÒDon't go out there and fall in love with Oregon because I own this restaurant. And we're not moving you know?Ó And I did and he couldn't say no! Chef Bliss: Yeah, I closed the restaurant and off we went. But I do have to say prior to all this, when I came back to Connecticut I was dead broke. I was like, I gotta get back somewhere where I can make some money and just pay off debt. But as soon as I'm debt free, I'm going back out to Oregon. So my whole mission anytime I was talking to anybody was like ÒI'm here but I'm really going to Oregon. I'm really going to Oregon.Ó Lauren: So eventually you did both make it to Oregon. Where did you end up getting married? HannaH: We ended up getting married in Connecticut at Peoples State Forest. It was very simple. We wanted things to be simple and easy because we were planning on two weeks later moving across the country, moving to Oregon. So we rented a pavilion, it was right on the river, and we walked up like É it wasn't quite climbing a mountain but it was this like beautiful overlook and my mother to this day will be like ÒYou made us climb this treacherous mountain!Ó Chef Bliss: Hey listen, it was steep! It was a little bit of a path you know what I mean? Took like, you know, 10 or 15 minutes to get up to it, but we drove like halfway up. It was like an overlook of this huge River Valley! Like vast, gorgeous, beautiful! It was high up! If you walked from the bottom it was a big hike to get up there. We were able to just cut it down by driving part of the way. But really it was about the vista, is why we got married up there. And on the day we got married It was like misty, rising up out of this, you know, valley like surrounded by like these giant like rose quartz crystals, and all like dried flowers. I mean it was like a beautiful nature wedding. It was perfect for the two of us I think. Not your conventional wedding for sure! Lauren: Sounds utterly spectacular! I mean wow! What was the view like of each other? What were you wearing and how does that relate back to what you decided to wear for that day? Chef Bliss: I didn't want to get dressed up in a suit, and plus you know weÕre out in the woods or whatever. My whole big thing was like ÒYo we gotta be like casual.Ó So like I had some like Chino pinstriped like pants thing and like some like É I really wanted like É you ever see like the Chinese martial art films and they have those like button up shirts with like the thing in the middle? And I wanted to wear that but I couldn't find one. I ended up just wearing like some cool like button down shirt, but black. Simple. Real simple. HannaH: He looked nice. He looked really nice! My dress was É it was off-white and a long wedding dress, and it had these very subtle like rainbow sparkles in them. You couldn't really see them unless you like got close up. And there were like white flowers on the top. It was strapless and it had É had a little bit of a, like a tied back. And my friend made me a flower wedding crown out of fresh flowers. And. And so the first part of our wedding I think we had about 18 or 19 people, just our immediate family. We were both allowed to bring two friends because it was a small, small space up there on the overlook. And so I had to wear hiking boots to get up there. So I wore hiking boots on the way up. And then I changed as we went down, we had over 100 people down in the pavilion, and I had these really cool É they were like these golden sandals, which have broken since, but they were so beautiful! Lauren: Were what were the reasonings behind both of your outfits? And how did you find them? And why did you choose those pieces specifically? I mean, and I know, it kind of gets down to the nitty gritty and you sort of think ÒWell, I just liked it!Ó But sometimes you choose things because you're drawn to them or you know,is there a little bit more behind your decision-making process as well? Chef Bliss: I was in like panic mode because I couldn't find my cool Chinese martial arts shirt that I wanted to wear. So I was like, ÒMan, what am I gonna do now? I really want thisÓ and I wasn't gonna I wasn't gonna find it, I guess at that time. So I went to I went to Marshalls and I'm just like ÒWhat's cool that I can wear that I donÕt look like an idiot but still is kind of dressy. And so I found these cool pants. I'm like ÒAlright, they're baggy. Like they're cool. I can work these things.Ó And I just found a cool like black shirt. Actually, I still wear it sometimes today. It's like real just É just casual, you know, comfortable, loose fitting and just comfortable. That was my big thing is like, I'm not gonna have a stuffy wedding or be a stuffy person. And that was the vibe we put out. Don't even come dressed up. Come like you're gonna come and chill. It's outside. And so I had to follow protocol, because itÕs what we were asking for. HannaH: I think when I found my dress, I wasn't really looking for anything specific. I went with my mom and tried on a bunch of dresses. And it just fit, it fit right away. I mean, there had to be some adjustments, but it just É it just felt right. It was like a very, fairy nature dress. And I was just like, ÒYep!Ó And she's usually like, you know, you try on things with your mom if you have a good relationship with your mom for a long time in life. So it was just, ÒOh, that's the one!Ó that you know, she just knew like, that's the one. Lauren: Obviously Chef BlissÕ chill nature rose reflected in his outfit. Do you think fairies and magic sort of reflect your personality as well? HannaH: Absolutely! Yes! Lauren: And it sort of ties back to your musical love as well. As I sort of mentioned at the top you wrote as part of your vows a song and I'd love to hear a little bit more about that as well. HannaH: Yeah, so the song was a secret, so I sort of had to keep it a secret as I was writing it, and then I had to practice it a lot. Because just like your wedding vows you don't want to mess them up. So I had to just practice it in secret. It's called Warriors of Love. And it was a surprise so it was kind of cool. Because one of my friends had this mini guitar that actually Bliss had bought for me and he had painted it. There was like stars and moons on it. And she had it hidden and she took it out. And she brought it up to me. And I think he probably already started crying before I started singing the song! Chef Bliss: Come on! WeÕre on top of this like misty mountain top, like, you know, stones and flowers! And you know, you come like floating up the hill in your dress, like all like Òde-de-de-de!Ó You know, and like so weÕre giving our vows, professing our love and all of a sudden like a ninja Bethany's like pulls out a guitar! IÕm like ÒAwww!Ó And I think that was like, I cursed a little bit like, ÒOh shit, here comes!Ó and this girl just started singing and it was just like, it's a beautiful song. Even on the record today. It's a beautiful song. It's a beautiful song! Lauren: Was there any reason behind any of the lyrics? Why specifically warriors of love? HannaH: Yeah, I think, you know, warriors of love because to live in this world and to be positive and to lead with love and to lead with your heart, you have to be really strong. You know, it's É it's almost easier to kind of slip into negativity or to just react your way through life. You know, you have to put on your gear and be a warrior to lead with love and to lead with your heart. And, you know, before we even met I think we both lived that way. We both live with our heart. A lot of it's about growing as people, and allowing each other to grow in our own way, you know, as É you know, like two trees standing next to each other to be able to grow together and to help each other grow. And the part that really gets me I actually had to, like, cry a bunch of times practicing it because I didn't want to cry at the ceremony. So the very last verse is kind of about us possibly being together on our deathbeds. When your long grey locks fall to the floor I'll simply love you more and more and peacefully I will hold your hand As we pass on through to the other land And sleep softly in spirits sand together as warriors of love. So yeah, I had to cry a bunch, so I wouldn't cry that day! It still gets me now that IÕm remembering that! Lauren: It looks like you didn't know that Chef Bliss, that she had to practice that! Chef Bliss: No, I had no idea because usually she's the one that like, never sheds a tear! Usually she's the one like belting out these like beautiful like songs and people are crying all around her. She loves that! She lives for that, making everybody cry with her stuff! And you never see her even like É stomp on her foot and sheÕd be like ÒOw!Ó But yeah you won't get a tear out of her! So to hear her say that makes me laugh. Cuz I'm the opposite. I'm like, IÕll, you know, I'll cry cuz the wind's blowing you know, so yeah. Lauren: Can you tell us a little more about your latest work Crystal Vision? HannaH: Yeah, and it's interesting, it does tie in and I didn't realize it until today. It was it was really nice kind of getting ready for this podcast because I had to break out my pictures and just remember the day and the woman who married us handfasting us. And I took out the handbag, which I hadn't a drawer, I don't think I've taken it out since then. And in there were three crystals that she had laid out for good luck and for love. And so I was like, ÒWow, it's like full circle, you know?Ó So Crystal Vision. Yeah, it's, it's a 14 song album, and we were guided to include what's called a crystal grid, which is a meditation tool. And it also comes with 14 crystals that are connected to the energy of each song. That's what crystal vision is. Chef Bliss: Also too, you know, with the music industry changing as drastically as itÕs changing, people streaming and downloading music, you know, you don't go into a record store anymore to look for and discover new music, or to buy a CD or buy a record or even a tape. That stuff is few and far between, you have to pretty much get stuff from the artists these days. That being said, as an artist, you're trying to put your music out there, you want everyone to have it. People are digitally getting things, a lot of stuff though that gets missed with the digital download is where's the art? You know, the visual part of it. And how do you get people inspired to want to, you know, accept this art? So, you know, for us a big thing is, you know, always like trying to like, how do you get people to you know want the actual physical copy of the CD? I mean, two CDs ago we did a cookbook, um, it was a cookbook, and then it opened up and the musical CD was in there. This to me was just like, an extension of that too, you know what I mean? Because it was like, well, let's take it even a step further. The world is insane. Everything's going crazy right now. Our music is a spiritually charged music. And so we were trying to kind of say also, how can we bring some of that spirituality, some of that meditation? What can we do to help people find that in themselves? And I think the grid is a reflection of that. Lauren: And just in case, some of our listeners don't understand the phrase ÒguidedÓ could you give a little bit more information on how you were guided to use the grid? HannaH: Yeah, that's a really good question. As one of my friends and I, who's also a singer who sings on the CD, came down from hiking on a mountaintop, he got the idea for the grid. So guided is É is like listening to your internal voice or your still small voice. So for some people it might just be simply intuition. For some people, they might just feel, you know, nauseous in their stomach if they shouldn't be doing something. And so whether you're listening to that or not is whether you are being you know, guided through life. And I think of the crystal grid actually as like a guidance system. So you think of like, your, like your GPS, right? It gets you from where you are to where you want to be. To your, to your destination, right? And I think of the crystal grid, as like an internal guidance system; it connects you into your internal guidance system. So just by doing a few things, right? For your GPS to work, you need it to be on, you need it to be connected to the satellite, right? And then you need to be paying attention right? So if it says turn left, and you're like getting distracted by the traffic and you don't do it, you're gonna get lost. So same with it with the crystal grid, it's like bringing awareness. Like you take the crystal grid, and it's, and it's out on the table. It's turned on as you place each crystal on different points. And we donÕt have to get too into it, but it represents chakras and represents different aspects of the earth. And then the middle is a fairy star. And then listening, right? So whether I'm practicing or listening to that guidance, as we, you know, as we listen and follow that guidance, I feel like we are led upon that correct path. Lauren: Clearly you took a lot of thought, energy time, patience with putting this this work together Crystal Vision, and I would love to know about how you customized the crystals and the gemstones and the grid, how that all came together with crystal experts if you could touch on that a bit. Chef Bliss: Yeah, sure. So, you know, the way I look at the grid is, it's like a circuit board right? It's blank. It's just like a it's like all the stuff is there. But yet you need these capacitors, these things that hold energy and release it. That's what a capacitor is right? And you needed something to get this thing working. And, you know, crystals come from the earth. They're made up of different elements. And when you mix these elements, it's alchemy. They have a certain resonance to them. Everything has a resonance, you know, the way I'm talking, my voice, the way we move, everything is vibrating. So these gemstones, these crystals, these rocks, they all vibrate at a certain frequency, individually different. And so each one has certain characteristics that may be imparted to it. So we enlisted, you know, a couple of people that we know that are really, really heavy like gemstone people, and said, ÒListen to this music.Ó Told them about the grid and said, ÒWe need songs that can line up with the chakra system that can line up with the earth elements and that makes sense with this music.Ó We want to É why would you have something that's like, doesn't, isn't connected? So we had to connect the grid to the music. So they listened to the music. And they were able to discern like, ÒOh, well, this songs about thisÓ or ÒYou know, what? Amonzanite has this certain property in it, and it really relates to what they're saying in this song.Ò Then we can say, ÒOkay, well, amazonite because it's got these certain properties, oh, that aligns with your fifth chakra. Wow, man.Ó You know, so that's kind of how we, you know, brought it together. And, you know, you got to think any kind of tool you use, whether it be rosary beads, whether it be a grid, whether it be, you know, a candle that you're, you know, praying with, everything can have an opportunity to hold energy. You know, sometimes if you're going to a church or a chapel and you feel like ÒchakÓ because of all the masses that have been there, all the people that are, you know, seriously spiritual. You get into a presence of your Mother Theresa or, you know, you know an enlightened person here on Earth, and you feel at peace, you feel that presence of divine, you know? So when you take a tool in, you know, you can take a brand new set of rosary beads, and then a set that someone's had for 50 years that they prayed on every day theyÕd feel different to you. And so the grid is just another tool to use to put you in that meditative space so you can connect to the divine, you know? Lauren: I think that's extremely well-articulated for anyone who's never really thought about crystals, comparing it to a circuit board and comparing it to things that we not only have been imbued with energy but naturally are imbued with energy. And please correct me if I'm speaking out of turn. Chef Bliss: Yeah, no, right on the head. Totally. Yeah, totally. Lauren: Relating back to your relationship together, do you feel like you guys followed that sort of pathway to each other? Do you think that that sort of cyclically turned turns back for you guys? Chef Bliss: You know, I feel like it's funny. When we met, and we started, you know, dating, and then we found out that, you know, both of our families came from the same part of Hartford, you know. That, even like, my mom's best friend knew her grandparents. And, like, she went to school, with a lot of people I knew. Like, so we have, like, all these like, multi layered levels of places, we could have met each other, you know, what I mean? Different instances and different things. And you never know, when you're in that right situation for everything to come together magically, for it to be like Òproof.Ó Here we are, we met each other, you know? If I had been out with someone who had been out with her or whatever, maybe at night, I wasn't listening to my intuition. And I went somewhere else. And I did something else. And we didn't meet. But when we did meet, you know, everything was was was synced up and lined up. Cuz I was like, I just knew and it just everything felt so right. You just have to be like, Well, you can't deny it. You can't sit here and analyze it. You have to just know. Lauren: I think that's an absolutely gorgeous way to describe it, so thank you. And I think our listeners would love to hear your music. Could you tell us where they can find it? HannaH: Yes, the best place would be to go to HannahsField.com. H-A-N-N-A-H-S as in SAM. F-I-E-L-D.com. And that'll take you to all the different social medias. But yeah, Hannah's Field. Also, if you just Google us, you can find us there. Lauren: Thank you again, both of you so much for being here, really, truly. HannaH: Thank you for having us. Chef Bliss: It was a blast! Thank you so much! I just wanted to say how awesome it is you guys are doing this show because there's a dire need for more love in this planet right now. And you know when you can bring up a subject that just makes people happy, you know, that brings people together. When you're talking about getting married, are we talking about love, you bring people on, I get to talk about their love and marriage. Other people hear that make you think of something really great. Maybe you have your own marriage, that's wonderful. Or maybe you haven't gotten married yet, but you dream of that amazing thing or it puts hope in people's heart. And you know, love is a powerful thing. So thanks for really putting it out the way you guys are doing. Warriors of Love Love is our path and we'll follow its light to the Oregon oceans sparkling through the night my heart is your heart and the darkness we'll fight together as warriors of love We'll build our house of positive peace I'll be your forever fairy bringing you tea You'll be my gentle giant setting me free Together as warriors of love Passionate kisses forever Trees grow alone but together Laughing at lifeÕs crazy moonlight learning from our fears and sweet tears And when your long grey locks fall to the floor I'll simply love you more and more and peacefully I will hold your hand As we pass on through to the other land And sleep softly in spirits sand together as warriors of love together youÕre my warrior of love.