Thankful Thursday (04/19/12)

April 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

As you can probably relate life can get hectic and very busy. Sometimes we (us, you and all those other people) get caught up with work, school, kids, errands and a list of things to do a mile long. In turn we forget to thank our significant other for the big things or small things that they do.

With all of life’s distractions its easy to forget to say “Thank You” Thankful Thursday is a day set aside that we make sure we thank our significant other for the big things or the little things that they do or have done. We encourage you to take this time to thank your significant other for things they have done. You can write them a note, send them an email, text them or even tell them face to face… The point is let them know!

While you’re at it leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

I have a lot to be thankful for this week!  Two weeks ago I knew what I was thankful for but forgot to write a post… Oops! Well today I am making up for that!

A few weeks ago Cassie did the 5 Love Languages Challenge.  She learned my love language and each week was given an assignment to love me based on my love language.  She had to be creative, thoughtful and resourceful.  I didn’t actually pick up on what was going on until after the second week!  It was so neat to see the time and effort put into each assignment.  I am so thankful that Cassie is not only willing to learn and grow… but also apply what she has learned.

I am 28 years old and I got an Easter basket!  I was pretty excited!  It was a recycled basket with recycled paper grass full of eggs!  Each of these eggs were filled with two caramels and a note… Some with words of affirmations,  some with bible verses and some just had thoughts that she wanted to share about me and us!  It was such a nice surprise to get such a breat unexpected gift!

Yesterday Cassie and I had the opportunity to be on a radio show.  We talked about how we met, our training & racing and our other projects that we are working on.  I am thankful that we had the opportunity to look back over the last year and a half and share our stories together!

I am o so grateful and thankful to have Cassie as my wife… My life is truly better because of her!

What are you thankful for… Feel free to leave a comment below!

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Thankful Thursdays (03/22/12)

March 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

As you can probably relate life can get hectic and very busy. Sometimes we (us, you and all those other people) get caught up with work, school, kids, errands and a list of things to do a mile long. In turn we forget to thank our significant other for the big things or small things that they do.

With all of life’s distractions its easy to forget to say “Thank You” Thankful Thursday is a day set aside that we make sure we thank our significant other for the big things or the little things that they do or have done. We encourage you to take this time to thank your significant other for things they have done. You can write them a note, send them an email, text them or even tell them face to face… The point is let them know!

While you’re at it leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

Last night Cassie and I were lying in bed chatting about training, life in general and anything else that came to mind she then shared some information about something she did for me a few weeks ago…

Right now I train (swim, bike & run) about 20+ hours per week… A few weeks ago I had started missing some workouts here and there… Well Cassie prayed that God would give me the energy, motivation and inspiration to get up each morning and get ALL of my workouts in.  Well here prayers were answered! Aside from being sick last week I have gotten in every one of my workouts in for the last 5 weeks and its an awesome feeling!

To get my workouts in is a good feeling for sure… But to know that Cassie is just as interested in my success, well being and goals as I am means all the difference in the world.  Her support actually inspires me to work harder and dig deeper!  I am so thankful for Cassie’s desire to support my dreams and goals whether helping me out with errands, words of support and affirmation, or prayers its makes all the difference in my life!

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Thankful Thursday (03/08/12)

March 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

As you can probably relate life can get hectic and very busy. Sometimes we (us, you and all those other people) get caught up with work, school, kids, errands and a list of things to do a mile long. In turn we forget to thank our significant other for the big things or small things that they do.

With all of life’s distractions its easy to forget to say “Thank You” Thankful Thursday is a day set aside that we make sure we thank our significant other for the big things or the little things that they do or have done. We encourage you to take this time to thank your significant other for things they have done. You can write them a note, send them an email, text them or even tell them face to face… The point is let them know!

While you’re at it leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

Last Saturday night I came home later from the gym than normal and Cassie was waiting up for me… I had been doing a lot of thinking and praying and there were some changes I needed to make in my life.  Once I got home Cassie sat patiently and listened to all the revelations I had discovered, gave me feedback as well as support on my decision to make this big change.  Monday morning rolled around and that was the day this big event was going to happen… When I reached for my keys there was a note waiting for me saying “I’m making a special effort today to pray for you often… Here’s how”  She then listed the things she was going to pray about and why.

All I can say is wow!  My wife is truly amazing! The note gave me peace, comfort, confidence and a feeling that let me know what I was doing couldn’t be more right!  I am so grateful and thankful that my wife supports me the way she does… It’s been said that behind every good man there is a good woman at a point in my life where I was making a proactive choice to be a good man my wife was right there supporting me and being a good woman!  I am so grateful and thankful!

Leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

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Great Newlywed Advice For Avoiding Marriage Communication Problems

March 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

I recently discovered great newlywed advice for avoiding marriage communication problems…  It comes down to asking questions, listening and sharing all the details.

There was a time when Cassie was asking a lot of questions about our house…

We were in the final stages of buying our first house and throughout this process I had been doing the majority of the work since Cassie has limited time to make calls while she is teaching.

This process had actually gone very well and smooth…

Everything from… Getting financed…Working with our fantastic Realtor… Looking at houses… Finding “the” house… Making an offer… Inspections… And now it was time for repairs…

Towards the end of the process it seems that Cassie was asking me more… and more… and more… questions about the process than normal…

I would give her a new detail… and she wouldrespond with 2-3 questions…

Things like…

We need to get this…where do we get this…

They need to do that… who will be doing that…

How soon… and how long…

At first I didn’t think much about it… Then I realized that she was in fact asking more questions…  My next thought was WHY?

My conclusion… it was all my fault!!!

The reason we ask questions is because we obviously don’t know the answer… DUH!!!… Or haven’t been given all the details…

Now there is a situation were one person could be distracted for example if I’m playing video games there is a 99% chance that I will retain about 5% of the information from the conversation lol But I’m not talking about that right now… right now I’m talking about open and uninterrupted conversation.

Well that’s where I had been dropping the ball those last few days…

Cassie had been asking questions because I had been leaving out a lot details… and since she didn’t understand what I was saying… she in turn asked more questions.

It’s really very simple lol

I was telling her the information as if she knew everything I knew… It sounds crazy but seriously I am sure you can think of a handful of time this has happened to you!  If she knew everything I knew she wouldn’t be asking hahaha :)

At one point in my life questions annoyed me…  I would get stressed out and eventually not want to talk about anything!

After my recent revelation… I now have greater clarity and a deeper understanding.

I now feel silly for leaving the details out… my wife is amazing… but she can’t read my mind ;)

Here is something to keep in mind if you are looking to avoid marriage communication problems… If your spouse is asking questions (and they weren’t playing video games prior to your conversation) its safe to say that they don’t fully understand… or you might have left out some important details.  Great advice for newlyweds would be instead of getting stressed, annoyed or mad just take a few moments to realize that they are asking questions because they don’t know the answer.  These ideas can save you a lot of frustration and energy for both of you!

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Thankful Thursdays (02/23/12)

February 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment


As you can probably relate life can get hectic and very busy. Sometimes we (us, you and all those other people) get caught up with work, school, kids, errands and a list of things to do a mile long. In turn we forget to thank our significant other for the big things or small things that they do.

With all of life’s distractions its easy to forget to say “Thank You” Thankful Thursday is a day set aside that we make sure we thank our significant other for the big things or the little things that they do or have done. We encourage you to take this time to thank your significant other for things they have done. You can write them a note, send them an email, text them or even tell them face to face… The point is let them know!

While you’re at it leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

In the last two weeks I have seen two acts of kindness where Cassie went out of her way to help and serve another person.  After one of Cassie’s fellow teachers had a medical procedure Cassie cooked a big pot of chicken soup and corn bread for her coworker and family.  The other night I was on the computer and Cassie was making a lot of noise behind me… I heard the rustling of paper, plastic, crayons, books and paper… I turned around and asked her what she was doing… The mother of a friend of hers was diagnosed with cancer… the friends and family are raising money and will be having a raffle… Cassie was making two very impressive gift baskets to donate to the raffle… I am thankful that my wife not only cares for those who are suffering, but she does what she can to help and support… So often in life we see something tragic and talk about it… but we rarely do something about it.  I am thankful for my wife’s loving, nurturing and caring soul and her interest in serving others and especially the people hurting in the world.

What are you thankful for… Please share below :)

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Thankful Thursday (02/09/12)

February 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment


As you can probably relate life can get hectic and very busy. Sometimes we (us, you and all those other people) get caught up with work, school, kids, errands and a list of things to do a mile long. In turn we forget to thank our significant other for the big things or small things that they do.

With all of life’s distractions its easy to forget to say “Thank You” Thankful Thursday is a day set aside that we make sure we thank our significant other for the big things or the little things that they do or have done. We encourage you to take this time to thank your significant other for things they have done. You can write them a note, send them an email, text them or even tell them face to face… The point is let them know!

While you’re at it leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

Before we moved into our house Cassie and I were staying in her 500s sq ft apartment.  We didn’t have internet but we had each other.    A few weeks ago Cassie asked me if we could set aside some just for us… I said of course!  With us both working and training we stay pretty busy and now that we have internet we spend a lot of our free time on the laptops doing random things online which in turn has created less “us time”.  I am so thankful that Cassie noticed this before it became an issue and I am thankful that she brought it up and wanted to do something about it!

Yesterday a dream of mine became a reality.  Cassie was just as excited, anxious and nervous for my project as I was!  She even gave me a card to show her appreciation and support!  I am so thankful that Cassie is so in tuned  to my life and is so supportive of my dreams and passions!

Leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

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Thankful Thursdays (01/26/12)

January 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment


As you can probably relate life can get hectic and very busy. Sometimes we (us, you and all those other people) get caught up with work, school, kids, errands and a list of things to do a mile long. In turn we forget to thank our significant other for the big things or small things that they do.

With all of life’s distractions its easy to forget to say “Thank You” Thankful Thursday is a day set aside that we make sure we thank our significant other for the big things or the little things that they do or have done. We encourage you to take this time to thank your significant other for things they have done. You can write them a note, send them an email, text them or even tell them face to face… The point is let them know!

While you’re at it leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

Here lately at the Celestain house I have noticed a recent trend… Just about every Sunday evening Cassie starts asking me food related questions starting with…

“What sounds good this week?”

Then she pulls out the cook book and says “Want to try… How does this sound… What about…”

After a 5 min strategy session…

We now have a rough idea of what we want to eat for the week.

She then gets to work finding new recipes and then compiles a list of groceries needed to prepare our food…

We have a tentative schedule of what we want to eat for the week… She then picks up the needed items from the store and we are good to go!

I am thankful for the proactive approach to our meal planning that Cassie’s initiates.

This preparation saves us time since we plan in our meals in advance…

Saves us money since we have the food needed for a full balanced meal instead of wasting money eating out…

Each night we come home we know that we are going to have a healthy and cost effective meal that we can prepare in minutes… and usually have enough left over for the next day’s lunch.

This proactive approach keeps us eating healthy and fueled for our daily workouts.

I am thankful for Cassie’s desire to initiate the weekly planning and the time and energy that goes into planning as well as grocery shopping!

Leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for.

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Thankful Thursdays (01/12/12)

January 12, 2012 by 2 Comments


As you can probably relate life can get hectic and very busy. Sometimes we (us, you and all those other people) get caught up with work, school, kids, errands and a list of things to do a mile long. In turn we forget to thank our significant other for the big things or small things that they do.

With all of life’s distractions its easy to forget to say “Thank You” Thankful Thursday is a day set aside that we make sure we thank our significant other for the big things or the little things that they do or have done. We encourage you to take this time to thank your significant other for things they have done. You can write them a note, send them an email, text them or even tell them face to face… The point is let them know!

While you’re at it leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

With so many things to be thankful for it’s quite hard to narrow in on just one… however there has been one dominating thought this week…

I was once told that in a relationship there is one person that loves more than the other and unfortunately that’s the way it is…

I believed that for a while and when I met Cassie… our relationship challenged this theory… Now that we are married and our relationship is even stronger I totally disagree with that statement!

I believe that we both… give, share, believe in, respect, encourage, inspire, sacrifice for and most importantly love equally!

We have created an environment where we can speak, share and love freely without judgment… we feel safe with each other and trust each other. I am truly thankful for this!

I am also thankful for Cassie’s willingness and interest in being the best wife she can possibly be… A couple of her latest blog posts have shown this desire… and I am o so thankful!

Be sure to leave a comment below expressing what you are thankful for!

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Thankful Thursdays (12/29/2011)

December 29, 2011 by 1 Comment


As you can probably relate life can get hectic and very busy. Sometimes we (us, you and all those other people) get caught up with work, school, kids, errands and a list of things to do a mile long. In turn we forget to thank our significant other for the big things or small things that they do.

With all of life’s distractions its easy to forget to say “Thank You” Thankful Thursday is a day set aside that we make sure we thank our significant other for the big things or the little things that they do or have done. We encourage you to take this time to thank your significant other for things they have done. You can write them a note, send them an email, text them or even tell them face to face… The point is let them know!

While you’re at it leave a comment below sharing what you are thankful for!

We have been married for 2 months now and I must admit that life is beyond good!  As you can imagine I have learned a lot more about Cassie in these last two months.  Of course they are good things lol Actually I have a deeper understanding of the qualities that attracted me to her in the first place.

Dedication and Determination… When Cassie wants to do something she gets it done… PERIOD   There’s no procrastination no dragging her feet… Once its in her mind she is on a mission until completion… She doesn’t even think about cutting corners!   Whether it be painting, buying and installing new mini blinds, cleaning, organizing, trying new cooking recipes, new bed sheets, or even learning new marketing strategy’s  once the thought enters her mind it doesn’t leave until its finished!

When we were dating I only saw these attributes focused towards her classroom and I never saw the true fruits of her labor since it was in her classroom.  Now that we are married and live together I can totally see her hard work, focused energy and the end results of her dedication and determination.

She has turned this house into a home and I am truly thankful for her determination and dedication!

Remember to thank your significant other today and leave your comment below!

 

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12 Days of Christmas… My Christmas Story

December 28, 2011 by 4 Comments

I have a great Christmas Story for you regarding the 12 Days of Christmas. If you remember from my last post “She lets me know she cares” Cassie was up to something BIG and 12 days later here I am with all the details, surprises and excitement of getting 12 thoughtful gifts in 12 days.  Below are pictures for each day’s gift with captions explaining the gift.  So lets get started and feel free to sing along ;)

 

Having you for a husband is a dream come true; this is my way of wishing Merry Christmas to you!

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
A Partridge in a Pear Tree.

I couldn't catch the partridge or dig up the tree so I just picked you a pear instead!

 

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... 2 Turtle Doves

Again I couldn't catch the birds, but I'm sure you'll enjoy this more than two white chirping birds.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

Check out these three recipes I'll cook your favorite for dinner one night next week. A nice relaxing dinner for us to enjoy together! I'll even de-bone the chicken for you.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

Read these 4 note throughout the day to find out what i have to say about you!

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
5 Gold Rings
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

Fiiiiiiive Gooooooldeeeeeeeen Riiiiiiiiings..... Pineapple, Crasins and Almonds = Great little snack

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
6 Geese-a-Laying
5 Gold Rings
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

I thought we could use some more ornaments for our tree! Each year youll be able to remember the 12 days of Christmas that took place during our first holiday season together :)

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
7 Swans-a-Swimming
6 Geese-a-Laying
5 Gold Rings
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

Read these "Seven Steps to Better Swimming Technique" and you will be swimming like a swan in no time! :)

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
8 Maids-a-Milking
7 Swans-a-Swimming
6 Geese-a-Laying
5 Gold Rings
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

Those poor maids could only manage 2 oz. each ;)

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids-a-Milking
7 Swans-a-Swimming
6 Geese-a-Laying
5 Gold Rings
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

I don't even know if I know 9 different dance moves, but for your entertainment I will attempt 9 dance moves :)

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
10 Lords-a-Leaping
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids-a-Milking
7 Swans-a-Swimming
6 Geese-a-Laying
5 Gold Rings
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

10 favors were really hard to come up with

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
11 Pipers Piping
10 Lords-a-Leaping
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids-a-Milking
7 Swans-a-Swimming
6 Geese-a-Laying
5 Gold Rings
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

Well there's more than 11 songs... and I don't even know if there are pipes in the music... But... I hope you enjoy it!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
12 Drummers Drumming
11 Pipers Piping
10 Lords-a-Leaping
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids-a-Milking
7 Swans-a-Swimming
6 Geese-a-Laying
5 Gold Rings
4 Colly Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

12 "Runners Running" how appropriate... Ok, Ok, it's suppose to be 12 drummers drumming, but that just didn't go with the gift I wanted to give you.

Take this gift card and get you some running gear, sweats or new shirt you’d like!

I hope through these 12 days you were reminded how much I love you & just how much of a true love you are Merry Christmas!

 

What an amazing 12 days of Christmas!   Our first Christmas together was fantastic… Yes the gifts and the food were absolutely AMAZING but it was more about the time shared together and the memories created.  I believe that can be summed up with one word LOVE and isn’t that the reason for the season!?!?!  Loving ourselves, Loving our family, Loving our neighbors and  remembering the birth, LOVE and sacrifice of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

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