Me & Tommy B

Bottega turned five this past February.  Over those nearly 2,000 days of breaking bread with people from all over not just the United States, but around the world, I’m going to share with you a visual thread that has been there from the start…literally a thread, lots of them: the Tommy Bahama camp shirt.  Season after season, those printed shirts have become iconic with Napa Valley, not just sipping a glass of wine on the terrazzo at Bottega.

When Tommy Bahama came to me a few months ago, and asked if I was interested in talking to their company about “how do I relax?” and participate in their annual “relaxation day” campaign, I first had a quiet chuckle. No doubt I was honored to share my voice and thought...maybe putting on a Tommy camp shirt would just auto-relax me? I thought some more…relaxing for me is a process…it’s getting up in the mountains on my bike; it’s gathering up the kindling and logs to make a roaring fire; and it’s something even deeper to me these days… It’s about living a sustainable life.

This is where I am at in 2014:  living a sustainable life starts with relaxation. You can’t do good for others until you do good for yourself.

My wife Eileen and I recently launched Barnraiser, an online crowd-funding community, “raising the roof” for change. From healthy and artisanal foods to community kitchens to educational and organic farms, Barnaiser is the place to meet the modern day heroes and innovators behind these projects, share their inspirational stories and fund their success.

Taking care of one’s self, doing good for others, and ensuring we are doing all we can for our children and the planet is what matters most. Then we all might be able to relax.

Grazie per il vostro tempo