God Gave Me You

So last night John was talking about how he can generally give a good, unbiased description of people, and he went on to describe some of his friends. But then he caught me off guard and said
"But if someone asked me 'what's your girlfriend like?' I wouldn't know what to say. At first I thought maybe it was because I didn't know you well enough. Then I thought more about it - I'd be more detailed. You are never predictable. You always surprise me with something more amazing than I expect. I feel like I'm funny and talkative around other people and that they respect me, I'm confident around them and I feel good when I'm with other people. But with you I feel completely myself. I feel so loved and accepted. I feel so funny and confident. But then when you want to, you can completely throw me off. You can stop me in my tracks and make me think I'm not even close to deserving of you. And so even though I feel more confident and accepted with you than I do with my friends who I am completely good with, I feel like I have to constantly work harder to impress you and care for you and be yours. I don't know if I'll ever feel as though I'm good enough for you. Just because I don't think anyone could be. Honey, I love you."
I'm a truly blessed girl to have someone like John in my life, and I'll never be thankful enough to God and to him for the immense love I've received from both of them. <3

God bless and have an amazing day! Stay safe from Hurricane Sandy, and pray for those in her path.

We're All Of Us Truly The Children Of God

So, I had and incredible experience yesterday. Sheldon Harnick (lyricist for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, TENDERLOIN, SHE LOVES ME, etc.) came to Cleveland to do a concert with my mom and Bill Rudman. I got to spend all day yesterday with him - watching him give a masterclass to the BWMT kids, eating lunch with him, and watching a production of his show "THE APPLE TREE - THE DIARY OF ADAM AND EVE" with him. He signed a copy of a song by him that I sing called "Will he Like Me?" and he wrote "Hannah - when you sing 'Will He Like Me' I'm sure he will! -Sheldon Harnick". I smiled for like 10 minutes. I got to watch him sing some of his own music, and even at 88, he has more honesty and character than most college students. He is a brilliant lyricist and I will never forget seeing him perform. His wife Margery came to Cleveland with him, and they are absolutely precious. One of the BW kids asked him who he showed his lyrics to before taking them to the composer/director, and he said "Oh, I always show them to Margie. If she doesn't like them or doesn't understand something, I change it right away." At the end of the masterclass, he received a very well deserved standing ovation and Margie looked so proud and went up and kissed him. Every person in the audience "aww-ed. " During the "APPLE TREE" production, Sheldon was so moved than he began to cry. Margie simply rubbed his back and put her head on his shoulder. They are absolutely precious. The two of them just publised a book together called "The Outdoor Museum". It's a collection of Margie's photography and Sheldon's poetry. It's a gorgeous book. They are inseparable and it's adorable. 

Sheldon and Margery Harnick

I had the experience of a lifetime yesterday - one every theatre lover wants to have. Look up Sheldon's lyrics and poems. There are so many beautiful ones. He shared a special poem called 'On Working in the Theatre" and nearly everyone cried. I can't find it online, but as soon as I have a copy, I'll post it. 

God bless and have a great day!

The Secret Of Happiness Is Learning How To Glide

So far, October has been interesting. John and I have had a hard-ish time adjusting to everything lately, and I really haven't been the best girlfriend to him. Distance kinda sucks. But we're doing okay. We skyped until about 2am and just laughed and talked about random stuff. We've both been struggling with similar things and it's been really hard for me to connect to faith lately. But hey, I've been there before, and God's always been there, I just have to really want to find Him. It's been a huge adjustment for John more than me, though, because I've met his friends at UC but he hasn't met mine. And he had to deal with me going to homecoming. I can't even imagine how hard that was for him. He really has been amazing through it all, though. I'm a really blessed girl.

Here's a picture of me and one of both mine and John's best friends going to homecoming together:

It was fun, but it was really strange for me to be at a homecoming dance. I'm not that type of person... I'm not the type for long periods of jumping around and dancing. Of course, I felt sick, but hey, that's normal for me.

I really haven't had anything interesting happen lately, which is why I haven't posted lately, but I hope you're all doing well! God bless!

For Beautiful To Happen, Beautiful Has Got To Be Seen

Hello, strangers! (Although it's my fault that we ARE strangers, seeing as I haven't posted in a while...my bad!)

So, I was thinking in the shower today (Yep - that's where I do most of my thinking...lol) about the immense pressure society puts on women to be perfect. In my opinion, "perfect" is the worst word you could use, because the only people to ever walk on this earth who were perfect were Mary and Christ. And since none of us (to my knowledge) are Mary, we really have no hope of ever being truly perfect. We can strive to be perfect as She was perfect, but we will always have original sin. That's just something we can never escape. But I don't necessarily mean that they put pressure on us to be "perfect" in a saintly or Mary-like way. They want us to look like models, not care about morals or ethics, date a guy the second we turn like 13 (I did start dating at 13, but society basically says that EVERY girl needs to date and if they don't they're rejects) and they say that sleeping with your boyfriend isn't wrong and it's something that should be looked on as okay. NO. No no no no no! This is what our world is coming to, and it scares me. What kind of world will my children grow up in? Honestly, I shudder at the thought. Even the little things, like the fact that Barnes and Noble is the only bookstore left in Cleveland makes me sad for my children. They won't grow up like I did. My parents always say "the world was a simpler place when I was young", and now I realize that it's going to change even more by the time I'm a parent. It's really concerning. Media tells women that they have to weigh as little as possible. Most girls would love to weigh 95 or 100 pounds. So why when my mom tells me that I need to GAIN weight, do I think "Heck no! I'm not getting any bigger than this!"?? Everyone's mentality has been warped by our media. Anorexia and bulimia are everywhere. Those are real problems that need to be addressed. Yes, physical fitness is great, but shouldn't we be more concerned about the people who are killing themselves trying to fit our distorted image of beauty?? Being stick thin is NOT beautiful. There are girls walking around who look like they're about to literally snap in half. This is a huge problem. And it's so sad. These are our friends. These are our siblings and family members. Why don't we see what we are doing to women?! *sigh* The world really makes me sad sometimes.

On a happier note, I had an AMAZING weekend last weekend with John in Cincinnati. We saw Glen Hansard (go look him up on YouTube or Spotify....Spotify is amazing by the way!) and he was MIND-BLOWING!! I absolutely can not get over it. He played one of my all-time favorite songs and he was literally two inches from my face when he processed up the aisle singing his last encore song. I loved that concert so so so much, and I'll never forget it. I also got to meet some of his friends who were super nice, walk around UC campus, found a really cool coffee shop, laughed, made fun of eachother, watched The Office, got caught in the middle of like 10,000 people at "Oktoberfest" RIGHT outside the theater where Glen was playing...that was tons of fun :) We left John's apartment an hour and a half early to go to the theater that was five minutes away, but we got so stuck in traffic and in a sea of people that we ended up having to grab dinner at one of the stands and rush in to the theater in half an hour. I got beer spilled on me *grumble*, and I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was perfect. And I can't wait until he comes home in a little over a month. :)

May God bless you all!! Thanks for reading! :)