new year prayer

Fasten my heart to you, Love of all Loves,
That all I am and do finds its motivation in you.

Fasten my mind to you, Inner Peace,
That whatever stirs within leads to tranquility.

Fasten my days to you, Divine Presence,
That in each happening I remain united with you.

Fasten my nights to you, Keeper of Dreams,
That I find restoration in your embracing care.

Fasten my joys to you, Delight of My Soul,
That these memories comfort me in times of trouble.

Fasten my sorrows to you, Compassionate One,
That I experience solace in your kindheartedness.

Fasten my concerns to you, Faithful Companion,
That I withdraw from the fears and anxieties.

Fasten my responsibilites to you, Source of Love,
That my daily efforts evolve from a generous spirit.

Fasten my relationships to you, Friend of My Heart,
That your profuse love nurtures and sustains them.

Fasten my anguished world to you, Holder of Hope,
That my dreams for peace may become a reality.

Fasten my prayer to you, Eternal Mystery,
That I might give myself ever more fully to you.

-- Joyce Rupp

testing out the canon 50 mm

We had a little photo shoot test driving the new Canon 50mm 1.8 lens ... My good friend, Chelsea at Chelsea Dawn Photography hooked me up with one of her old lenses.  Since she is a professional she has upgraded to some much nicer gear.  (She is good... please check out her work!) I'm of course stoked to get a hold of this! It takes a little getting used to since its a prime lens.  In order to focus you have to manually turn the lens.  And if you want to zoom in and out you literally walk toward or away from your target.  It takes great photos though!  Anna is so busy its hard to get a focused image but we are working on it.

Look at me sticking to my New Year's Resolutions, eh? Happy Wednesday Everyone!

^ her daddy's blue eyes ^

^ getting sleepy ^

^ easily distracted ^

^ the ceiling fan caught her eye ^

^ love her ^

{photos by sixteen sunbuckles. Anna at 8 months}

recipe of the week {the green smoothie}

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to drink one smoothie a day.  When I went in for my yearly healthy physical the nurse looked over my information and said I'm not eating nearly enough green leafy vegetables or whole grains.  (Does anyone? yuck!) So, here I am trying to awful looking green smoothie.  It can't be good my mind tells me.  Its like eating green ketchup.  You know its supposed to be good but it looks awful.

My good friend Emily recommended this recipe to me from Skinny Taste.  And ladies and gents, its absolutely delicious.  No seriously, it is!  And I felt good about myself because today I got in a full dosage of green leafy vegetables.  I might even give myself a little pat on the back.

*Cheers* to New Year's Resolutions

The Skinny Green Monster

{the goods}
1 small frozen ripe banana, peeled and sliced
2 cups baby spinach
1 Tbl Peanut Butter
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup plain fat-free Green yogurt (I used plain vanilla yogurt)


Dump and blend.  Too thick?  Add some ice or a little orange juice.