My Mega Exciting Life: New Orleans Family, Sunsphere, and is this Me?

Short post here, folks.

First off, I am horribly negligent in not noting another member or Hiroshi's family. Please meet his sweet puppy dog:

milky the dog!

seriously, how cute is she? she has a PINK tail and PINK ears. i wish i was that lucky!

We had a brief but wonderful but short visit from Tommy's Auntie Mickey and Cousin Randy from New Orleans. Randy's going to graduate school in Philadelphia, and who knew! But apparently, Philly is 20 hours away from New Orleans, and the halfway point is Lenoir City. They trucked out the extra half hour to chill with us one night and we had a lovely time catching up.

auntie mickey and cousin randy. you're welcome anytime! good to see you both!

(if I was a real blogger, I'd have gotten some more photos. At the very minimum a CRAZY photo!)

Don't worry, Girlz Weekend III in the New to the Orleans planned for late October, so I'll get more pics then. Except Randy will be in Philly... your loss, Randy. New Orleans will never be the same again.

Next night, we hit a hot spot on the Knoxville scene known as the Sunsphere. It was the landmark for the 1982 World's Fair (you got to be, THERE!) and has been more or less closed to the pubic since the fair ended. Well, a bar opened up there about six months ago and... well, let's just say, they know me by name. Love. It.

check it: it's a ball of fire for a logo... and the sphere is a ball... of gold... i seriously wish to be a fly on the wall of these discussions. i'm not kidding!

Growing up in Knoxville, we went to the fair often. My grandmothers bought my brother and me a passport so we could go anytime. Here is the crappy pic I took of the passport pic:

i am wearing my favorite shirt at the time. it had a cat on it. file under the category: you want what you cannot have: my brother was highly allergic to anything with fur and i was obsessed with getting a cat. i wanted a cat in the worst way. i was super mad in this picture b/c i stood, unwittingly, slightly slouched and the kitty had a crease in it. please, for the love of god, comment on the cat/shirt/wrinkle and not my boy hair cut. MAMA. HOW COULD YOU?! (ahem. i think i begged to have a boy hair cut. i was a bit...um..... how you say? starts with "tuh" and ends in "omboy"... means Megan Venable? never mind, it'll come to me...)

p and s, no worries, i now have not one, but TWO cats of my very own.

Back to the Sunsphere! Here is a photo of what it looks like standing from the bottom:

i took this myself! i should also say - i once walked up the whole way. it was in college when the sunsphere had been close for over a decade and some door was open... i went up. it seemed like a cool thing to do! it was.

view from the bar up high to down below....

I actually was just chillin' by a window, and then looked down. (I almost pooped my pants. Then took a pic so you might poop your pants.)

here's the view from the bar... you can see The Hill, Neyland Stadium, Andy Holt Tower and Hodges Library (excuse me, the Nerdery)

And the food is good! Order the Hot Pocket! (don't ask. just do it.)

it's different every time... but lover-ly every time too...

last week, there was a storm (something odd about being in a storm... up high... in a sphere, BTW) and then! there was the loveliest rainbow! it was truly a double rainbow, but my camera does not capture the brilliance or the double. but it was FAB!