...the bombs bursting in air

Boy Bandemia - prepare yourself

Stop. 

Now, take a look at this.

This is Boy Bandemia - a new boy band consisting of four amazing East Carolina University (woop woop woop yeaaahhh) students in the Physicians Assistant program who were tasked with coming up with a presentation encouraging people to quit smoking for one of their classes.

My second-cousin-in-law (aka Josh's cousin) Michelle, who met the guys through her job at Laupus Library (our medical library at ECU) has kind of become their "manager", helping the guys by not only spreading their story but also using her super photography skills to do a photo shoot in true boy-band style. Check these out...

their album cover

back of the album

I can personally say that I fell into the little teenage trap of "oh, look how cool I am with a Marlboro Light in my fingers as I pretend to inhale" when I was younger. It didn't last long since I am seriously allergic to cigarette smoke but still, those few weeks were still too long.

he's my favorite

So, go out and share the wealth. Share it with your friends and family, if you're a teacher, show it to your students to prevent smoking or better yet put it ALLLLLL OVER Facebook and Twitter. Now.

Also go check out Pink Lou Lou's post on the band too!

storm-wrecked

in case you haven't heard, eastern North Carolina was rocked by a nasty storm yesterday that just came out of NO WHERE. While our house was fine, we had loved ones that lost a lot.

Josh, Sawyer & I were at Josh's grandparent's house in Temperance Hall (where we go every Sunday night for supper) when the storm hit. We were just sitting in the living room watching Sawyer play with his blocks when the wind started blowing, and not just blowing - it was blowing horizontal and fast! Before we knew it, a tree had fallen across their power line and just barely missed Josh's daddy's truck. Siding was ripped off the house, chairs were thrown across the yard and into the pool, telephone poles snapped and then it was over. Just like that.

We ventured outside and saw that Temperance Hall Road had been completely hammered by this crazy, spontaneous storm. Josh's aunts and uncles all live side by side on the road and the damage was spread all around.

The worst was at Aunt Becky & Uncle Bill's house. Their barn that had been standing since Josh's great-grandparents lived in their house was demolished by a giant oak tree, along with the truck that was parked inside it. Their son Chad is getting married next Saturday and he and his soon-to-be-wife had just moved their new house onto their land this past weekend and it now has a giant hole in the ceiling from a big branch. And to top things off, the church where they're getting married now needs a new roof.

Needless to say, we were without power until about 3am and Josh's grandparents still don't have it.

We were so blessed that none of our family was hurt, however my best friend Hope's parents had a LOT of damage due to a giant oak tree falling on their house - not only did it cause immense damage to their house, it also killed their dog, Duke. So please send prayers (or happy thoughts) toward her and her family as they go through this hard time.

Also be thinking of all our local farmers who have lost a lot of their livelihood due to the havoc reeked on their crops.

Here are some photos of the damage to T.Hall:

Josh's granddaddy surveying the damage in his front yard - look how close that limb came to Mr. Mike's truck!

the tree on Aunt Janet's barn... and power line

the tree that took out a 70 year old barn that had resisted all kinds of hurricanes

.. and also took out a truck - see the tail light?