A Botti Valentine

The view of the interior of the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta is spectacular!

The "sail" in the lobby surrounded by PULSE Lounge.

The 47 story view from the lobby is positively dizzying!

               We were immediately impressed with the lovely hotel where we would be spending the evening.

We had a lovely snack at Velocity in the hotel when we first arrived.  I recommend the crispy shrimp...marvelous.  Then we went to SEAR, also in the hotel for a pre-concert dinner.  The food was quite good, but the appetizer of flatbread actually stole the show.  If I had known how good it would be before I ordered my grilled fish entree, I would have just ordered that delicious flatbread topped with fresh vegetables, herbs and maytag blue cheese....mmmmmmm.

The lovely scene at left is from SEAR. Atmosphere is relaxed but romantic.

Chris Botti doing what he loves to do!

The concert was wonderful.  Chris is a fabulous musician, playing that trumpet like it is part of him.  He began playing at nine-years-old and decided to make it his life's work when he was only twelve.  It is obvious he loves it!  He had his "band" with him.  A Brazilian fellow who was fantastic on the guitar, Lisa Fischer, who can sing anything from tenor to the highest soprano notes you ever heard with soul, a beautiful violinist who was not only captivating to look at, but to listen to.  He also has a drummer extraordinaire!  Anyway, the music was too fabulous and we had a great time.

 After the concert we returned to our lovely hotel for, of course, a bedtime snack; after all, we were celebrating Valentines Day, weren't we?

Kevin ordered up a "Blue Streak" mixed drink and I ordered a Club Soda with lime.  I couldn't resist the call of something sweet to finish the evening.  After perusing the menu, which had such decadent items as peach cheesecake and molten chocolate cake, I decided to go adventurous and order "Chocolate Nachos."

We both laughed for five minutes when the platter you see at left arrived.  It was huge!!! The bottom layer was cinnamon/sugar coated sopapillas, topped with chopped candy bar (think it was a baby ruth) tiny marshmallows, vanilla ice cream, marachino cherries and a deliciously deep, dark chocolate drizzle.  So much for diet!!!  We didn't eat all of this crazy thing, but we did put a major dent in it.  It was delicious!  The crispy, sweet sopapillas drizzled with the deep, dark chocolate were fabulous dipped in the cold ice cream.

Needless to say, I am back on the wagon today!  That was a sinfully wonderful treat, and great fun, but definitely not something to do more than one time a year!

We enjoyed our night in Atlanta and got up early and headed toward home and reality this morning. 

We stopped to pick up our little Buddy in Forsyth where we had left him with my daughter and her family.  He had quite a time there as they have a little cat who thought it funny to tease him.  He gets lots of attention there...a bath, a massage (yep! a massage), the kids love all over him and he just generally gets spoiled!  Needless to say he doesn't mind visiting there!  He was happy to see his "Mommy" this morning though and let out a little squeak to let me know it!

Home for the moment, but planning to head for Okaloosa Island soon to go condo shopping.  Wish us luck as we want to retire there eventually.  For now we will be in the market for a condo which we can rent when we are not using it in the hope it will be completely paid for by the time Kevin can retire.  I love that place. They say home is where the heart is, and my heart is definitely at home in Okaloosa!

Hope you all have plans with your sweethearts for Valentine's Day!