Tick Tock

Whew! Time is flying by!! I can't believe that our time in Bangor (crazy Bangor) is more than halfway over. Just two more weeks here! It's exciting because Maine isn't our favorite place, but bittersweet because it means that the first six weeks of our marriage have almost passed, and a little scary because I am closer to taking the first CPA exam, and a little sad because my wonderful husband and I will be spending most of our time apart while we're in CT. It's also a little exciting because we're six weeks closer to living in West Palm Beach, FL! (Vacation, anyone??)

Oh, you want me to go back to the second-to-last sentence? Yes, Duke and I are going to be living mostly apart in CT. Affordable, furnished, short-term, secure housing proved to be impossible to come by in Danbury. Although this is not ideal, it actually is going to work out just fine because my sister's in-laws live about 45 minutes away from the hospital that Duke's going to be working at. So I'm going to stay there while my student-physician husband stays at the hospital housing during his extremely long OB-GYN days. He needs to be as close to the hospital as possible because he'll be working 12-16 hour days and has to be in between 5 and 6 am. So wasting an hour and a half driving every day would be a recipe for disaster in his shoes. (I think it may actually be a blessing to our marriage, too, because neither Duke nor I function well on little sleep---can you say "monster"?---so we will be able to spare ourselves from ourselves.) God has really blessed us with this chance to save money and Duke's mental health. Hopefully we will have great weekend breaks together that are re-energizing and full of quality time.

Speaking of Duke, I am so proud of how hard he works for us, building a good future for us to share together. I really appreciate the time and effort he has put in to his training. I am so thankful for his good attitude, efficiency, and ability to separate work and home life. He always makes me laugh and is my best friend. I love my husband!

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

I made these for dinner yesterday and they were so easy and delicious that I have to share the recipe! (Adapted from a recipe by my culinary-genious sister, Virginia)

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

1 lb chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup (or so) of your favorite hot sauce/buffalo sauce
1 Tbl butter
Tortillas
1 Roma Tomato
5 leaves iceberg lettuce
Shredded cheese of your choice (we always use Cabot Extremely Sharp Cheddar)
Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing
Hot sauce or red pepper flakes to taste

1. Preheat oven to "High Broil" and make sure baking rack is at least 1/2 way to the top of the oven, or a little higher.
2. In a bowl or ziploc bag, toss chicken with 1/2 buffalo sauce.
3. Place in baking pan and bake for 4-5 min
4. Take chicken out of the oven and mix 1Tbl melted butter and the rest of the buffalo sauce to the chicken. Place back in oven and bake for another 4-5 min
5. When chicken is done, place in tortillas with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and dressing. You may want to add some more buffalo/hot sauce, or red pepper flakes if you don't have hot sauce.)

This meal is unbelievably easy and very delicious!

BLACKOUT!

Hurricane Irene, not-so-serene. Yesterday was weird. We were supposed to get hit really hard by the hurricane, but it was so NOT bad that Duke and I went grocery shopping in the middle of the "storm"! Thankfully we were back home when, a few hours later (about 8 pm) the wind really started to pick up and the power went out. It was weird though, because it was very windy but hardly rained.

The worst damage I saw today were a few large branches on the side of the road. Vermont, however, got hit really hard with lots of rain and flooding. I hope our friends and family in VT are ok!

Friends, you need to check out my bridesmaid and dear friend, Eva Marx's new blog!! So excited to be bloggers together, Eva! :)
http://www.steelandskirts.blogspot.com/

Happy Monday!

Music to Our Ears

Have you ever seen anything like this?




I have, in musical form. Come to the Duncan household on a random weeknight, and you'll encounter what I'm talking about....techno. Duke got super into techno while studying for the Step 1 last year. I used to think it was a little weird (I mean, we're not in Europe, and we're not trying to get wild at 7:30 on a Tuesday) but he is convinced that it is the best study music--no words, no distractions, just straight energy-inducing beats. I have to say that I now like it. There's a lot of studying going on at this house, so we listen to a lot of techno these days.


But if you're not into getting your heart rate up while studying, I have an alternative -- the original sounds of Christopher Taylor Duncan, my own private musician.




He is such a good guitar player, and his songs are always hilarious!!! He has a great stage presence, too. :) He always brings a smile to my face!!!

Out in the blogosphere

Hello Friends!!

I have been a blog stalker for a while now, and I decided that it's time for me to join the ranks of people who document their lives to share with others and keep a record for themselves.

Our life has been a little crazy recently....Duke and I got married a month ago (YAY!!) and since then we have traveled from New Jersey --> Boston --> Bangor --> Boston and New Hampshire --> Bangor --> The Coast --> Bangor --> New Hampshire --> Vermont --> New Hampshire --> Bangor. All in the past three weeks (because we did take a break from traveling right after our wedding and relaxed at the beach.) I guess that explains why my (I mean our) car desperately needed new brakes, and why we exceeded our monthly gas budget in the first ten days of August. Ha! We may have to re-evaluate that one. Aside from constant travels, I have just started studying for the CPA exam...during our most recent trip to VT I couldn't help but think of the proctor's mantra, "NO FUN UNTIL THE CPA'S DONE".......maybe I should get back to studying now.

I'm SO excited to be blogging. Soon I will post about the wedding----our DREAM wedding, which was so fun----as well as more about our current hometown of Bangor, Maine. Bangor has been a little different than we thought, to say the least. Let's just say that hearing about the man who walked around downtown waving two loaded guns in the air, the man who escaped from the insane asylum and swam across the river, the person who was killed behind the casino, the new rage of doing bath salts and going crazy for up to thirty days, and the wild car chase that led to some criminal's death less than a quarter mile from our home has made us a little uneasy about living in this "quaint little Maine town". Just three more weeks to go! Maine really does have some beautiful parts, though. I'll tell you about our visits to the coast later.

All danger in Bangor aside, we are truly so happy to be married. It's so nice to be living together, starting our new life. We couldn't be happier, even if we had more gas money or less crime in Bangor. Life is great and God has blessed us!!!!! It's study time now!