and then there were two :)

Brandon and I made the decision it was time to expand our little family... well I decided it was time.  Brandon was set on the idea that it was time to get Hank a pet. A hamster to be exact.  He thought we would get one and put the poor little hamster's cage in Hank's cage and he (or she) would be Hank's new best friend.  Better sense set in... or maybe it was the paint fumes getting to us... either way, we decided to getting another puppy was a much better idea.  Michelle and TJ had just gotten a puppy the weekend before and the family still has puppies that needed homes.  That's where we got Patsy.  I mean, I have been threatening to bring home another dog since I brought Hank home, so what better time than Spring time to get another dog.  I didn't think Brandon would cave as easily as he did, but I am not going to complain about that.

isn't she perfect?

Monday, TJ picked her up and brought her home.  Here is our first family picture :)

my perfect little family :)

So I can't help but want to take a million pictures of her and of Hank.  They play so well together.  It is the most odd pair, but they are really perfect.  This morning Patsy was feeling bold and decided to wake Hank up :)

obviously the big mean pit bull cared :)

Today I took her to the vet.  She hasn't been keeping her food down so well and we wanted to make sure it wasn't something that Brandon and I were doing wrong because she is so young.  The vet said she is only six weeks old and needs to be on orphan puppy formula... and be bottle fed.  Brandon is thrilled.  She said we need to get through the next 3-4 weeks and she will be fine.  Based on the way she plays with Hank, I have no doubt that she is one tough cookie.  The vet told us she weighs a whopping .8 lbs and not to worry, we are doing just fine.  I think she is perfect and she is the most wonderful little girl two people could ask for. Brandon and I couldn't be more blessed to have the most perfect little babies ♥

I hate Crowne Plaza.

So today theknot.com told me I should call the hotel and confirm the bridal suite for the weekend.  So I do it... and it's a good thing that I did because now, I officially HATE Crowne Plaza.

I call and I speak with the front desk... they transfer me to Melvin... who transfers me to reservations operator #1.... who transfers me to reservations operator #2.... who transfers me to reservations operator #3.... who transfers me to reservations operator #4 (at which point I have to wonder why they need so many different reservations operators)... who transfers me to Camille. Camille tells me that they have no record of the Trotter-Wilkinson wedding.  Wait... what? I give her the confirmation number for the contract.  They have no record of this confirmation number or the contract.  Excuse me?  I pull up the emails (from AUGUST) and read them all to her.  She is stuttering. I go off on a tangent about responsibility and good business operations.  She said it will be resolved by the close of business and I tell her that while she is trying to resolve it, I will begin to look for a different hotel to block rooms at.  She assures me that it will be taken care of by the close of business. I'm still waiting...

I called the Hilton in Silver Spring.  It's simply two blocks away from the original location and it is just as nice.  I worked with a wonderful woman named Virginia.  I cannot say enough nice things about her.  After about 10 minutes on the phone, we finished our conversation and she put together a proposal.  She emailed me within an hour with a proposal and a TON of information.  Turns out, the Hilton will offer us a better price per room, the option of blocking rooms on Friday night as well AND they also offer a shuttle. 

So now the only question Brandon and I have left now is where do we have the rehearsal dinner?  Do we keep it at the River City Grille even though it's part of the Crowne Plaza?  I mean, Gzim, the restaurant manager, is absolutely wonderful and he was so helpful and I really loved him.  Or do we move it to another location because I hate the Crowne Plaza and everything they stand for?  UGH.  Decisions, decisions.

185 to go and so productive!

So it is 6 months and 1 day until go time.  Woohoo!  So not only am I excited about that, but I am quite thrilled that it has been a wonderfully productive 48 hours.  No seriously, it has.  And not just on my part – Brandon has been crazy productive and helpful too :)

-we addressed more invitations (I figure if we knock a couple out every week, then we won’t have a big day of addressing and stuffing).

-we ordered the new vases (cross your fingers people, they shipped today)

-we celebrated three incredibly wonderful years together :)

the beautiful flowers Brandon got me for our anniversary :)

-Brandon wrote a blog post that made me cry :)

-I finalized a decision about bridesmaids’ dresses

-Brandon made a decision about the tuxes :)

-we placed our rental order (and paid in full) for our seat covers/sashes

-we called to set up an appointment to meet with the priest to tie up any loose ends and finalize the wedding program

-we mailed our parents the notices that they need to sign saying we’ve never been married to other people, the "prenuptial witness affidavit"

-I called and left a message requesting a copy of my baptismal certificate

Phew – and on Friday we can go get our marriage license :)  Eek!  I don’t know if I will take care of that or not, but I will say that I really want to.

We really only have a few things left to do:

-get baptismal certificates

-as just noted, we need our marriage license.

-order last few bridal party gifts

-get fit for the tux

-find the freaking shoes

-buy wedding bands (but I picked mine out!)

-get vases to Aunt Patti (when they come in of course!)

-get vases to florist (in July when payment is due)

-mail invitations (in June)

-print programs (just waiting on a couple details, but they’re basically ready to be printed)

-print place settings (and add ribbon based on dish selection)

-seating chart

And none of those things are really that big (seriously, the seating chart is not that big, especially since I have a preliminary seating chart already done based on 100% attendance), and I am sure more little things will arise as the day get closer, but that’s expected.  Dang, it feels good to be so organized… that being said, September 10, 2011 hurry up and get here! 

The weather is probably going to be insane tomorrow. by: Brandon Wilkinson

This is something that I thought I would never do. In fact, I tried to avoid doing this for a couple months now but Tori won't seem to forget about it. Brandon Wilkinson is writing a blog post. Just doesn't have a ring to it... however; my lady has requested this of me and I will do my best......

The past few years of my life have been insane: graduating college, moving to Maryland, working two jobs, getting promoted, taking tests, getting engaged and all the other things that happen in this thing called life.

Last February I asked Tori to marry me. She said yes and I thought the hard part was over. I was WRONG. As a pretty simple man and I had no idea about the amount of detail that goes into a wedding. Thank God for Tori. If I planned the wedding the main dish would probably be cheeseburgers and potato salad and the beverage choices would be Beer, Coffee or Diet Coke. She's great at planning and has a great eye for detail. In fact, I think sometimes too much of an eye. hahaha She will literally have me pick from 10 shades of the same blue. Of course I can't answer right, they all look blue to me! I know I cause her headaches but she is a good sport about it.

We got 6 Months and 2 days until I take the plunge. Rumor has it guys get nervous and get afraid of the commitment and being a "one woman man" for the rest of their lives. Honestly, I have no fears, no worries -- she's a good gal and she takes good care of me. The only worry I have is just hoping everything goes how Tori wants it to. She has put a lot of time and energy into the planning and really deserves the day to be just how she has planned it. I'm not any good at the planning and choosing part so I do let her take care of that stuff. I probably should be more involved even if I just nod and smile. As long as she shows up and says Yes then Sept 10 will be a success in my book. I mean having all my family and friends together for a big massive party wouldn't be too bad either.

Last week I found out one of my groomsman, also my cousin, has Leukemia. He is a fighter and will kick its ass.

In conclusion-
This is probably one of the worst blog posts written in blog post history.

Go Team Kyle!

Today Brandon, Evan and I went to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital to see Kyle.  We got him some magazines (even a Martha Stewart wedding magazine which for some reason he did not think he needed in order to get ready for the wedding) and candy (because who doesn't love candy?).  He looks good.  He looks like himself.  I am not sure who else he would look like, but he looked like him and that is what I needed to see.  His smile still lights up the room and makes me feel like a million bucks.  He didn't miss a beat when picking on me, so I guess he can't feel but too bad.  Gotta love him.  I think it did us all some good to get over there, if for no other reason than to see that killer smile.



Joey, Kyle, Donna and Derek at the engagement party
seriously, how does someone resist that smile?

Seeing him made me more eager to get Team Kyle up and running so as soon as we got home from the hospital, I set up the Team Kyle fundraising page, sent the invite to the family and I set up my own fundraising page too, so check it out and support us :)  I will get our Maryland page together soon, but I thought getting Jersey together first would be a good idea!  I plan on working on some fundraising events between now and October (think bowl-a-thon!) - so be on the look out for those!

Go Team Kyle!

a family that wears orange together, stays together.

It is weeks like this that really test a person, and not just a person, really, but a family. All the things that seemed important on Friday, all the things that seemed to matter, just don’t matter and not because they’re not important, but because they’re not nearly as important as I think they are.  What seemed like the end all, be all of my existence (hurricane vases vs footed vases, four inch pillar candles vs three ribbon tied candles, going to Sam’s Club vs going to Costco on Sunday morning) seems so meaningless now.  In the big picture, those things really don’t matter. At the beginning, middle and end of the day, what matters is family. 

This past week really put the Gordon family strength to the test and I think we passed with flying colors, if I do say so myself.  On Friday, Brandon’s cousin Kyle went to the hospital because he had a weird mass on his neck. A wide number of tests were run, options were weighed and on Saturday, after what seemed like an eternity from the first word of Kyle going to the hospital the day earlier, we learned that Kyle has leukemia – acute lymphocytic leukemia. He will be in the hospital for treatment for five weeks and then he will be on rest (not bed rest, something more like house arrest) for six to nine months. When they told Kyle everything going on, one of his biggest concerns was that he would lose his hair and he had wanted to grow it back out. I told Brandon that if not being able to grow his hair out is Kyle’s biggest concern, then that should be everyone’s biggest concern as well. 

Yesterday, I did quite a bit of homework on ALL. I read every article I could get my hands on. I read every cancer association’s website and every ALL blog I could find. Instead of trying to make sense of why this happened to Kyle or how this could happen to someone so strong, I decided it would be a better investment of my time to learn everything and get involved. If you know me, then you know when something like this happens, I make it a point to raise as much awareness as possible and to do anything I can to help. And while I can’t donate my bone marrow to Kyle, I can make leukemia awareness my newest cause. Turns out, the awareness ribbon color for leukemia is orange. I hate orange, but I love Kyle. So I ordered Leukemia Awareness bracelets for our entire family and I did some homework on Light the Night, which is the Leukemia and Lymphoma society fundraiser (think something comparable to Relay for Life). So October 15, 2011 we will be at Forrestal Village in Princeton, New Jersey participating in the Light the Night event… and then on October 22, 2011 we will be at Rockville Town Square in Rockville, Maryland for the Montgomery County Light the Night event. Go Team Kyle! Once I get a fundraising page set up, I will be sure to let everyone know! 

Monday we learned that Kyle will just need chemo, which sounds bad "just chemo" but considering we were originally told that he would need chemo, radiation and a bone marrow transplant, I will gladly take just some chemo.  Today we were told Kyle is up for visitors and would like to see us, so this weekend Brandon and I are going to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick to see Kyle. I will wear my orange with pride, because that’s what is important; Kyle is important.