Meet Dave.

This is Dave.  Our pilot today on Virgin America flight 409 JFK to LAX.

About 20 minutes prior to boarding, Dave got on the intercom, introduced himself as today’s pilot, thanked us for flying with Virgin America and then kindly said he would come over on the other side of the gate to meet us personally and answer any questions.  Matt and I looked at each other and said, “is this a joke.”  I mean no offense Dave, but I’ve been flying for 25 years now and I’ve never seen a pilot reach out to his passengers in this sort of way.  At most, I’ve experienced a “hello from the cockpit, hope you are enjoying today’s flight.”

So it was an additional surprise when Dave did in fact come over to our seats to reintroduce himself and then proceed to answer several questions from passengers.  People wanted to know if food was served on board, how long the flight was, is turbulence dangerous etc… Each of his answers were thought out, genuine and more than anything, positive and reassuring.

I wonder, was this courtesy extended by Dave himself or perhaps a new marketing initiative that is being rolled out across Virgin America’s flights nationally?  Either way, Dave, I give you props.  Thanks for kicking off my trip to LA and my first experience with Virgin America in such an upbeat way.  I guarantee is this won’t be my last time on board.

P.S. Did I mention I’m writing this post at 25,000 feet over the fine state of Ohio using Virgin’s inflight Internet service?

au revoir simone

It is very rare that a day goes by where I don’t feel blessed, fortunate or lucky.  It is only 3:28pm on this Monday afternoon and I have already felt that feeling a handful of times; it helps that I woke up to gorgeous sunny skies.  After opening the curtains, I made a delicious breakfast of fresh ricotta, thinly sliced tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of aged balsamic on toasted whole wheat bread.
But I’m not here to tell you that I’m in a good mood or had what I deem the perfect breakfast.  What I’m here to write about is how damn lucky I am to have so many talented and amazing friends.  Tonight, after an event at The Eldridge with the Dining and Libations Society, I’ll make my way out to Williamsburg to cheer on Au Revoir Simone, an amazingly talented group of musicians.

Our friend, Erika, who plays in the band, graduated with us from Skidmore College and we’ve been fortunate to stay in touch with her since then.  Tonight they are surprising people and doing a small show in Williamsburg.  Then they head off to Europe to release their new album, Still Night, Still Light.

Congratulations lovely ladies.  This is an amazing journey to watch from the sidelines!

You can preorder the album here.

Paperfinger

Our dear friend Bryn Chernoff is the master behind Paperfinger .  She was kind enough to do the calligraphy on nearly all the paper elements for our wedding, from our invitations to our escort cards and even our guest book.  Recently, Style Me Pretty,  a must see for all brides to be, did a recap of our wedding and gave Bryn the credit she deserves for her amazing and unique work.

Red Antler

I recently met the fine folks over at Red Antler, a strategic consulting group.  They’re a talented team and have worked on projects such as the email newsletter The Tasting Table and the upcoming conference 99% with Behance and our friend Tim Yu at Cool Hunting.

Gallery Stock

Dan’s archive is now being represented by Gallery Stock the stock wing of Bill Charles Represents.  They have a really impressive roster of photographers including Anthony Suau, Joachim Ladefoged, Mitch Epstein and Nadav Kander.

The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography

The fine folks at Humble Arts Foundation have recently published The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography, which features one of Dan’s images.  “The Collector’s Guide is an invite only, unique 180–page source book distributed to collectors, art dealers, gallery directors, photo editors, museum professionals, and independent curators. Published biennially, The Collector’s Guide aims to further Humble’s mission by bridging the gap between ambitious early-career photographers and often-unapproachable photography professionals and art institutions.”

We were lucky enough to score two copies of it at this year’s  and they are beautifully designed and contain some amazing photographers including Timothy Briner, Brian Berman and Carlo Van de Roer.

You can pick up a copy here.