The Walker Blog

Washington DC, Thanksgiving, Burt's Holiday Party

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Burt's Holiday Party, Thanksgiving, Vacation | 2:59 PM

It's been a while-- sorry about how much time has passed since the last post! We've been very busy!

Working backwards to present, we will begin with our trip to Washington D.C. to meet up with Cathy's twin brother Scott and his fiance Christie and her son Alex. We met them November 21st-23rd and had a fantastic time. We arrived late on Friday the 21st and stayed at the Hotel George. We had a fantastic room and were super close to Union Station.

We spent the whole day on Saturday sight-seeing. There's so much to see and do. We did the Old Town Trolley tour and were taken all over D.C. for one fee. We could get off at any stop and reboard at any time during the day. It was definitely worth the money. We met with Scott, Christie and Alex at the WWII Memorial. We went to the Korean Memorial and then they went to the Lincoln while we went to Arlington. We were there to see Kennedy's grave on his death anniversary. We were able to meet up with them at the National Archives and then we had dinner together at the Austin Grill. We took the Metro back to Union Station and walked back to our hotel.

Sunday the 23rd started with us taking the Metro to the Portrait Gallery. However, it wasn't open yet, so we walked around for a bit. We wanted to see Ford's Theater, so we headed over to see it. We turned around and there were a bunch of people in line at a house, and we realized that it was the house that Lincoln had died inside of. So we got in line and went inside (it was free). It was very cool to stand in the room that Lincoln passed away inside of.

Our last thing that we all did together was the Portrait Gallery. It was pretty cool. We said our goodbyes and drove back to NC. We were home before 4pm, which was nice since Cathy had to work the next day.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Steve's dad and his wife Sue Ann came down from Indiana and then some of Cathy's friends from work came over. They're all from out of state too and it was nice to share our home with them. Everyone had a nice time watching "the band" on the Wii. The guys played Guitar Hero World Tour, while the girls cooked. Then after dinner, the guys cleaned while the girls sang karaoke with American Idol Encore 2. It was a lot of fun!

The last BIG thing that's happened took place last weekend. We went to Fearington Village, NC for the annual Burt's Bees Holiday Party. It was Sunday, December 14th from 12:00-4:00. They had traditional southern BBQ for lunch (which was absolutely delicious) and then cake and cobbler for dessert.

The highlight of the party is the awards presentation. There are three awards that Burt's gives out each year. One is for Social Responsibility, one is the Roxanne Quimby award and then there's the Burt Shavitz Environmental Steward Award. Last year, Steve was nominated for the Burt Shavitz award, but didn't win anything more than a $25 gift card to Harris Teeter. This year, not only was he nominated (by several of his collegues), but he won! It was amazing to see him be recognized by his peers and the CEO. He was given a wood caving (Wood Spirit) and a certificate. He was also given $2,500 for himself and Burt's matched $2,500 towards any charity that Steve would like to donate. It was awesome!

So... that's about it from here. We're excited for Christmas and the week after because Cathy's parents are coming for a visit. It'll be nice to see some family during this first holiday away from friends and family in Michigan. We're going to Cathy's friend Elizabeth's house for dinner on Christmas. We'll post again soon!

Take Care,

The Walkers

November Fun

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Election '08, Halloween, Life Update | 10:24 AM

Well Halloween has come and gone and yes, we had a ton of fun this year! We believe in all things easy and stress-free, and Halloween is no exception. We decided to put up a few decorations on Thursday and then on Friday we set up the strobe light and got the music ready. We of course, had the best house on the block (we might be a little biased though).

While we were getting ready for the trick-or-treaters, Cathy was wearing her costume (Green Bay Packers fan-- cheese head and jersey). She went into the garage, and our neighbor (Gary) was outside getting ready too. His little boy (probably 6 or 7) said to him, "Dad, did you see that Steve's daughter had cheese on her head?" At that, Gary laughed and said, "That's not Steve's daughter, that's his wife, Cathy." AH HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Cathy loved it!! (Steve didn't think it was quite as funny.)

Saturday we drove an hour to Clayton, NC for their Fear Farm. Stacy (works with Cathy) came over and we went together for their corn maze. We had a great time! When we first arrived (8:30pm) they said we couldn't get tickets for the corn maze because they stopped selling tickets at 8:00. Steve flipped out... got a manager and explained that we drove an hour... and their website said they stopped selling tickets at 10pm. They ended up letting us in and it was all good.

Cathy worked the polls yesterday for the election (see her blog for more information). We're both very excited for the change that will come our way under an Obama administration. The US as we know it will never be again.

Steve has oral surgery tomorrow. He's going to have his implant put into his gum (ouch). He'll be off work tomorrow and Friday to recover. Cathy has to go in Friday after 4:00 to set up her new classroom. We're both dreading it because it takes a lot of work to get her room ready.

That's it from here... we hope you're all doing well and are as excited and happy about this election as we are! YES WE CAN!!!

:)
The Walkers

Obama Rally

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Barack Obama | 10:47 AM

We attended our first policital rally together this past Sunday! Barack Obama was appearing in Fayetteville, NC and we decided to head down and see him.

Let us first say that whenever you have 10,000+ people gather for an event, you should have a meeting before the event to talk about procedures and brainstorm ideas to make the event run as smoothly as possible. Apparently this idea was lost on the fine people in Fayetteville.

We arrived at 11:00 (when the gates were supposed to open). There were no signs as to where to get into the line... and looking at the mass of people, you couldn't see a beginning of the line or the end of the line. There were people all over who were volunteers for the event, but none of them said anything about where to go to get in line. So we just kinda followed everyone else and as they moved, we moved. We were given tickets so we were pretty sure we'd get in, we just didn't know when or where.

We stood outside in a hodgepodge of people for about 45 minutes. The crowd was mild and no one was getting upset or causing any problems. UNTIL we got to the barriers that they had put down. Apparently there WAS a line and we weren't even in it. We were on the outside of it and everyone that was on the other side of this barrier was allowed in and they told us to go get in line like everyone else. That was a BAD idea... people started getting really upset and the next thing we knew... the line pushed ahead and moved the barrier out of the way and everyone stormed forward. We had no other choice but to "ride the wave of people" and keep moving.

Had we not been in that spot, it's possible that we wouldn't have been able to get inside. They had more than 2,000 people outside that couldn't get inside. We got past the barrier and it was open and no lines for about a minute. Then we had to get in line again for the doors and metal dectector. Once again, there was no order, rhyme or reason to the lines. Instead of having everyone merge into one line for the ONE metal dectector per group of two doors, we had stayed in two separate lines and then had to fight it out at the door. We stayed in that line for about 20 minutes or so.

Once inside, we found some seats (two people that were in line with us were next to us) and then we went to use the bathroom. Steve asked them if they would save our seats and they did. THANKFULLY!

We headed to the bathrooms. You'd think that in a stadium, there'd be bathrooms all over, but not this place. There were ONE set of bathrooms. Of course there was a line for the women's but that was nothing compared to the line for food. We waited in line for food for more than 45 minutes. It was crazy.

We got back to our seats and had time to eat before Barack Obama came out. It was really awesome to hear the roar of the crowd when he came out. He sounded exactly like he does on television and because we have been watching the debates and some of his speeches, we weren't as wowed as others. It was a great speech though and when he announced that General Colin Powell gave him his endorsement... the place went crazy.

Cathy's Barack Paper Scissors shirt was very popular. She had a lot of people ask where she got it and a lot laughed when they saw it. It was neat to see all the Obama shirts that people were wearing. The crowd was predominately black, but there were some white people and a very small number of hispanics. We didn't see any Native Americans, Asians, or other minorities present. Steve said it's because of the area.

After the speech was over, we got up to leave and headed to the right... back the way we entered. The entrance area was blocked and the people at that door said, "You can't get out this way... you have to go back to other way." At this point, there was a huge crowd forming behind us trying to get out. For us to turn around and go the other way... NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. So once again, someone pushed forward and everyone else followed and rushed past the workers. The odd thing, once we were past that section, there were volunteers from Obama's campaign asking people to go vote early and passing out flyers. If we weren't supposed to go out that way, why were there volunteers waiting to give flyers?

We got to the car in record time and beat the crowd. It only took 5 minutes in a line to get to the road that took us back home. So let's see... we were there from 11:00-3:00. In that time, we spent two hours of it waiting in a line. Crazy!!!

The Walkers

Our Trip to the Mitten and Indiana...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Vacation | 6:00 PM

Well... we're back! We left on Saturday, September 6th and drove and drove and drove to Ohio. We stopped to see Kevin, Greta, Ben and Ayden (Greta is one of Steve's oldest friends). We went to a nice dinner with them and had time to relax and forget about the remaining three hours ahead of us. We arrived at our hotel around 11:30 pm, quickly unpacked some things and crashed.

Sunday (9/7/08) we were up early and had breakfast, then headed over to Cathy's parent's house. We said our hellos to her parents and then we headed back to the car for an hour and a half drive to Frankenmuth. We met Cathy's cousin Terry, her husband Chuck and their daughter Natalie, as well as Terry's son Nicholas, his wife Natalie, her son Alex and their son Jack. Cathy's brother Scott also met us there and so did her brother Dave, his wife Heather, and their three children Eamon, Aine and Benton (they drove to Michigan from Arizona). We had lunch at Zender's restaurant and then did some shopping. After shopping, Scott, Dave and his family and Terry and Chuck and Natalie left, but Nick and his family stayed and we enjoyed a car show. We enjoyed seeing all the different cars and they had a German polka band! We even ran into Fr. Terry (small world). It was the only time that we were able to see him, so we were glad to run into him.

On our way home from Frankenmuth, we stopped at Cathy's Aunt Margie's house. Cathy was excited to see her aunt, uncle, and cousin Derek (he's leaving for France). Dave and the kids showed up and we stayed for pizza and had a nice time catching up. They have goats and sheep, so we had some fun outside with Eamon and Aine feeding the animals.

After dropping off Cathy's parents, we headed back to the hotel for bed. Monday we had breakfast and headed over to the house to figure out what we were doing for the day. We all went to Mongolian BBQ (our favorite place) for lunch. Then we drove to Plymouth Orchards for cider and donuts. Cathy's mom had to work, so she left, but we stayed a while and the kids enjoyed looking at the horses.

We headed off to Freedom Park in Canton, and stayed there with the kids for a while before heading over to Matt and Aimee's house. It started to rain and we had some time before going to Matt and Aimee's, so we went to the new Target (right behind our old house). We bought Mario Cart for the Wii and also the American Idol Encore karaoke revolution game. We took both to Matt and Aimee's and hoped to maybe play one of them.

We went to a nice Italian restaurant called Dolce Vita and had dinner together. It was still early when we were done, so we went back to their place and played the American idol karaoke game. It was so much fun!!! They decided that they wanted to buy it because it was so much fun.

On our way home from their place we stopped at White Castle for some gut-burgers. We headed home and crashed.

Tuesday Dave and Heather were leaving to go to Ohio for a visit with Heather's sister. We went to Big Boy's for lunch and then they left. We went back to Cathy's parent's house and spent time with the kids while Dave and Heather packed up their van. They left around 4:30 and we stayed and talked with Cathy's dad (he had come home from work early). We went to dinner with him (Texas Roadhouse) and then went to Dairy Dan's for dessert.

Then we headed back to the house and we all played American Idol. Scott came home from class and he joined in and then Cathy's mom came home and she played too. We had so much fun doing the tournament. The judges give you feedback and then they eliminate contestants. Cathy ended up being named the American Idol. LOL.

Wednesday we went shopping and then headed to Federal-Mogul (where Steve used to work) to pick up Cindy. We went to lunch with her at our favorite Thai place in Southfield. Then we headed over to Cathy's parents. The plan was to maybe go see a movie, but we didn't all get to the house in time, so instead we just hung out and visited. We had to leave around 4:30 to get to Mitch and Jess's place on time.

We said our goodbyes and headed off to Albion. As much as it gets easier each time we leave (because we know we'll see them again). it was really hard on Cathy this time. She cried a bit and then was able to settle down, but it was difficult to say goodbye to her parents, Scott and then even when she said bye to Dave, she got a little choked up.

Out visit with Mitch and Jess was good. They're expecting a baby girl in December, so we got to watch their ultrasound and see the baby. We went into Albion and had dinner at a cute Italian place called Cascarelli's. We had a great dinner and then went to an ice cream place for dessert. Our visit was short, but it was nice seeing them. The next time we see them, they'll have a baby!! CRAZY!!

We headed to Connorsville, Indiana on Thursday. We arrived around 1:00ish and Steve's dad was in the barn working on a rocking horse that he's making to sell. He made it out of wood and is planning on taking some to different craft fairs. They look really neat!!

We visited with his dad for a bit and then Sue Ann came home. We had dinner with them and their friend. After dinner, we headed outside for a fire but it started to rain, so we called it a night.

Friday we got up super early (for being on a vacation) and headed to a place called Lumpy's. Steve's dad eats there a lot and is President of the "Lumpy's Liars Club." We had a great time meeting their friends and then we went back to the house. We ended up taking a nap and then Sue Ann's niece Cathy had a baby that morning, so we drove to Indianapolis to see her and the baby. We were absolutely SHOCKED by the room that she was in. It was a suite and she had the baby in that room. It even came complete with a man cave!! :)

After our visit with them, we went to Italian Gardens restaurant for dinner. Yes, it was Italian. We were soooooo in the mood for Olive Garden (where had planned to go with Matt and Aimee) so this was the third time we wanted Olive Garden, but had other Italian instead. It was okay, because we like Italian, but we thought it was kinda funny.

We ended up getting home late and went straight to bed. Saturday we had lunch at Macaboo's Steakhouse and then went to the Kenny Chesney concert. It was a fantastic concert!! We saw Luke Owen, Leann Rimes, Keith Urban, and Gary Allen. It was an amazing night-- and the last stop on his tour so he played for almost three hours!!! It was fantastic!

We didn't get home until 2am and then had to turn around and drive home at 7am. We got home around 6:30 and had time to unpack the car and then relax a bit before heading to bed.

We'll post pictures soon...

:)
The Walkers

Bla...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Pets and Life | 9:04 PM

Well, we went to an official pig-pickin' this weekend. A guy that Steve works with had his 40th birthday party Saturday night up in Wake Forest and he had a pig. It was really tasty!! A little gross to look at, but it was very delicious to eat.

We sat outside tonight for a little and enjoyed the luxury of a screened porch. It was 85ish but not too uncomfortable. We had fun watching Toebe bark at birds and try to get bugs outside the porch. We also watched Finding Nemo tonight. We forgot what a great movie that is!!! "Just keep swimming... just keep swimming..."

We're excited because Toebe has discovered his voice and purr! He hasn't been vocal at all since we've had him and just recently he's started to meow. It doesn't help that we've left him on the porch overnight and he's meowed so loud that it wakes us up. He's never purred before either. Just not a cuddler or lover, but today Cathy heard his purr! She was so excited to tell Steve when he got home from work and then he was able to hear it too!

I guess that's what we have to talk about--lol. No kids to talk about their great accompishments. We have cats to talk about. Sad isn't it? It's not like we're not trying to get pregnant... we are. Just taking a little longer than we had hoped. We're still young though (right?) and have time on our sides still. Until we have kids to talk about... we'll continue to bore you with details about our fur kids. LOL.

Ned is going to the groomer tomorrow. He is SO hairy! He is in desperate need of a shave! He'll be a new pup tomorrow!!

Later--
The Walkers

Paisley Party Tour and more!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Summer Fun | 2:49 PM

Jewel

Steve singing

Julianne Hough

Brad Paisley and Jewel

The Walkers

Brad Paisley

Chuck Wicks

The Burt's Bees VIP Box

Goodness it's been a while since we last blogged!! What have we been doing??? Well, we know we have loyal fans that tune in regularly to hear all about our life here in NC (lol), sorry to make you all wait so long!!

As the pictures show, we went to the TWC Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek (like a DTE Energy Center/Pine Knob in Michigan) for a fantastic concert back on Saturday, July 19th. Steve stumbled upon some free VIP tickets to see Brad Paisley, Jewel, Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough and he couldn't wait to tell Cathy. We were super excited to go because we both love Brad Paisley and Jewel. Neither of us had heard of Chuck Wicks or Julianne Hough, but we enjoyed their time on the state none-the-less.

Cathy has started a new school year and has a challenging class so far. We're hoping that everyone just needed a track out to get their heads straight (Cathy included) and that when she goes back in August, it's all good. She is still teaching 4th grade and is still really happy at her school. She was asked to present to the teachers twice (on United Streaming) and she was nervous but really excited to have the opportunity to share her knowledge with others. She still receives emails each day from teachers all over the United States about her website and we're thinking about how to channel that positivity into a productive future. You wouldn't believe the emails that she gets... it's really amazing.

Steve is still loving Burt's and is really starting to make some wonderful changes for the company. He's respected and definitely regarded as someone who knows his stuff! He put together something called "Dumpster Day" and to his surprise, he was featured two different times on the "official" video that was made of Dumpster Day. If you'd like to view the video, send us an email and we can send you the link so you can watch him. :)

We both were super excited to set a new record for ourselves. We've been married longer to each other than to anyone else!! July 8th we celebrated our second anniversary. We're more in love today than ever before and it's awesome to have found each other in such a huge world. What are the odds?

This weekend we're going to a surprise birthday party for someone that Steve works with. It's a pig-roast (hopefully a real one) and we'll blog again with pictures.

We're getting excited for our trip home in September. We'll be leaving NC on Saturday the 6th and driving ALL DAY to Michigan. We'll be spending Saturday the 6th through Wednesday the 10th in Michigan with Cathy's family. Her brother Dave and his wife and three kids are going to be there as well so it'll be a great visit with them. Then we're heading to Indianapolis to visit Steve's dad and SueAnn. We'll be staying with them from Wednesday through Sunday and then driving back home Sunday morning. We'll be going to the Kenny Chesney concert with them on Saturday the 13th. It's the last stop for his tour and should be a ton of fun!!!

Talk to you soon!

The Walkers

4th of July Weekend

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | back to school, end of the year, Holidays | 4:59 PM

This weekend we celebrated the fourth of July by going to see Hancock. It was a really good movie! Not realistic at all, but very entertaining. We give it two thumbs up!

Cathy finished her last day of school last week. She was very sad on the last day of school because she really loved her class this year. It's safe to say that they loved her as much as she loved them, and we're both grateful that she's had such a wonderful first year teaching in North Carolina.

She's been really stressed at work. She went into work this whole last week, Monday through Friday and tried to get everything ready for the first day, but she had to bring things home this weekend to work on. Even with all that, she's still not done and has to go in early tomorrow to get completely ready for the kids.

She's going to have a challenging year this year. She has 15 boys and 8 girls, only 5 that are identified as Academically Gifted (the other teacher has 13) and she has 4 CCR kids (special education). One of her boys, isn't special ed, but requires a BIP (Behavior Intervention Plan) and she has to keep track of his behavior for every minute of the day. She has to meet with a special team every two weeks to discuss his behavior. She also has a girl that's diabetic and wears a pump.

It's going to be interesting!! Steve is doing well at Burt's. He was really excited to be featured in their "Dumpster Day" video that was professionally made. If you're interested in viewing the video, let us know and we'll send you the link to view it. It's pretty impressive!!

Friday night we were entertained with the jack-asses on our street. They had like 50+ people over for a party and were drinking and being THEM, well, it got dark and they decided to light some fireworks. We're surprised that no one was injured because they were drunk and lighting explosives, and not really paying attention to each other. It was amusing. The only bad thing was that our house is now covered with the cardboard and paper that came off the fireworks when they exploded.

Satuday we went to see Hancock, and before we went to the movies we had lunch at Jack Astor's. We had a very delicious lunch!! After the movie we went to Office Depot so Cathy could get some school supplies, then we went to Jo-Ann's for stuff for Warm Fuzzies (things that Cathy makes her kids) and the to the Dollar Tree for some back to school treats for bags that Cathy gives her kids. Then we did our grocery shopping and came home. We watched Bee Movie this morning and now we're about to watch the latest episode of Intervention.

Talk to you soon!

The Walkers