Talking Tiger Lily's with Samantha Knapp

The Talk At Tiger Lily’s

COPPER SQUARE HOTEL:

The Talk At Tiger Lily’s this week has almost been silenced with Betsy Knapp channeling her Ingrid Bergman on a tour of Casablanca, Morocco.  Not to be outdone by my mom and Ying to my Yang on the radio show, I did a little traveling myself with a visit to the famed Cooper Square Hotel.

The space scales two difference motifs. A  modern crisp edge balances a traditional comforting library  in the upstairs bar. Govind Armstrong’s newest Table 8 takes center stage at Cooper Square. Foodies of course know, the kitchen can accommodate bigger parties from the famed chef known for California style incorporating fresh ingredients.

The lounge as  is compete with leather sofas and shelves over six-thousand books from “Housing Works,” the city’s hottest destination for the thriftier home owner, looking to repurpose old furnishings in new ways. I love that in a space with so much style, the books remind us that what is old can be new again!

AT HOME DESIGN DISTRICT:

New York isn’t the only place for design inspiration. This fall, atHome Magazine is again bringing together top interior designers, well-heeled homeowners and the stores they love for the ultimate block party! Design District is open to the public and will extend from Putnam Avenue, down Greenwich Avenue and through to Arch Street on Thursday, September 24, from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
At Home editor, Kate Hogan explained on Talking Tigerlily’s the event will include 17 high-end stores and businesses many of which focus on home design, lighting, real estate and art.  It is an amazing chance as she dished to meet some of the biggest local designers and grab their ear about projects on your home to do list.

Throughout the evening, participating stores will be featuring designer presentations, book signings, giveaways and more! Shop ’til you drop with cocktails & hors d’oeuvres provided all evening long. A Grand Prize Drawing of a weekend stay at the Stone House, on the water luxury suites hotel in Little Compton, RI. will be open to all event attendees, just pick up your “passport” at any of the participating stores.

Mark your calendar for September 24th and next Tuesday when the At Home Design District team dishes the top ten ways to live better at home!  That’s on Talking Tigerlily’s Tuesday morning 9:30-10:00AM.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

mofflymedia.com

PARTY MIX NYC:

Starting with small collection of records at the high school parties with fellow Brunswick classmates to dee-yaying at some of the hottest venues in New York City, Christopher Ford has risen in popularity with his sensibilities and eclectic taste in music to become a highly sought spin-master. His company, Christopher Ford’s Party Mix™ has been providing great music, sound, theatrical lighting and FX for every occasion for almost a quarter of a century.

As for relaxing at home, Chris offered the below play list:

Christopher Ford’s Tigerlilly 10
1. Duffy – Stepping Stone
2. Dionne Warwick – Walk On By
3. Nouvelle Vague – I Melt With You
4. Monique Kessous – Fool On The Hill
5. Flight Of The Conchords – Foux du Fafa
6. Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass – Whipped Cream (Anthony Marinelli remix)
7. Richard Cheese – Bust A Move
8. Estelle – Pretty Please
9. Thievery Corporation – Lebanese Blonde
10. James Hunter – I’ll Walk Away
Bonus Track – The Sandals – Theme From The Endless Summer

GUEST CONTACT:
Christopher Ford
partymixnyc@aol.com

CONTACT US:
We always love when guests sound off and dish on the topics we think are important. Want us to dish on a topic we haven’t yet covered? We want you to share your ideas with us. You can come by the store 241 East Putnam Avenue in Cos Cob CT across from the Cos Cob school and let us know what you want to hear…or we can simply answer your questions in person. You can also contact us through our website tigerlilysgreenwich.com or blog talkingtigerlilys.wordpress.com. All the info from this show in on our blog.

Behold a citation for talking on the phone while driving. Before you rush to judgement, please allow me to set the stage. A handful of parking tickets already in hand, I won’t argue the merits of my skills behind the wheel. The ticket relates to a Saturday afternoon in July. I had wrapped up what was turning out to be a very difficult installation of a Tiger Lily’s Lounge for Beach Ball. Beach Ball is the most spectacular fundraiser for the protection and conversation of Greenwich Point. It is a worthy cause that I support by providing a complementary lounge. On leaving the beach I received an important event related logistics phone call as I drove slowly along summer jammed Sound Beach in Old Greenwich.

For those who don’t know the operation at Tiger Lily’s intimately, let it be known, we have at our disposable a extended commercial van behind the wheel of which this petite blogger found herself on this offending cloud covered Saturday. I picked up the phone as I passed the fire department which tends to be a convenient post for local law enforcement awaiting infractions. The eyes of the law were on me, as I attempted to juggle the wheel and the phone. In truth, I was in the process of pulling over seconds after I picked up, recognizing at that moment the impossible task and danger of driving and talking on the phone The impending blue lights of the patrol vehicle confirmed I was too late. Despite my attempt to explain to the officer that I had a momentary lapse of the road rules, I was issued a monetary citation.

I have decided to appeal. I have not lost “cite” of the importance of safety behind the wheel and support Connecticut being among the 18 states and the District Of Columbia to enact laws strict enough to include a ban on hand-held cell phone use and texting while driving. There has never been a greater concern to call-it quits on the phone.

1. On August 19th the Washington Post offered data that estimates the tab for cell phone usage: 342,000 auto accident injuries and $43 billion each year in property damage, lost wages, medical bills and fatalities.
statistics are staggering.

2. In July 2009 Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released a study showing that the risk of drivers texting while driving is far greater than previous estimates research and far exceeds the hazards associated with other driving distractions.

My appeal is empirical. It is drawn from the wise words of Thomas Huxley. Huxley, famously once referred to “A beautiful theory, killed by a nasty, ugly, little fact.” Call America a cell phone nation. It is an instinct, to pick up a ringing phone from the most risky situations of driving cars or operating other machinery to the trivial situations of disrupting the peace in theaters or restaurants.

In my case, my momentary oversight of a very important law was punished by law. However, I would like to think there are exceptions to every rule. I did try to immediately right a wrong, I hope a judge will understand the moment clearer then the officer writing the ticket. I ask for the checkered flag here and the chance to drive-on by. If not, the only law upheld here will be one of Murphy’s Laws. It’s been said no good deed goes unpunished!

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I Copy That!

Feed back from a blog reader:

“Interesting writings but before submitting to the newspaper you really should run everything past an editor … enough minor grammatical and style mistakes to hurt your credibility. But a tremendous “green” topic and a sensational headshot.”

I copy that! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. In an effort to retain what credibility my posts have already generated, I will respond to the aforementioned spot light on my grammatical and style mistakes.

Please believe though I am not among the many scholars who penned compelling hard copies on the subject, like The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need by Susan Thurman or Jane Straus‘ Blue Book on Grammar and Punctuation, I do hope readers take my blogs to be the very definition of the word, credible which Merriam-Webster defines as “offering reasonable grounds for being believable.”

I write from the heart.

Blogs should be considered a 21st-century version of the public town square. It is a way for people to make social contact and spread information in an unregulated, unformatted style. It is the ability and power to execute the constitutional right of Freedom of Speech. One post can be 100% grammatically correct while the next mumbled thoughts of a writer no smarter then a 5th Grader!

Greenwich Time provides an opportunity for local bloggers to share and provide community based information.

As a former broadcast news reporter, who incidentally lost my job as a result of forced CBS News cutbacks, I have an intimate understanding of newsrooms and the desires of the staff to provide excellent content with diminishing resources.

Faced with lost advertising revenue, media power houses are looking to new outlets for gathering. On television it is not uncommon to see video or photographs taken by by-standers at the scene of a developing story. Perhaps, blogs attached to websites for community based papers like Greenwich Time answers the challenge to find new ways and resources in the community to deliver and distribute information.

As bloggers, we are separate from the paper and have the flexibility to create our own content. Depending how you look at it, a fortunate or unfortunate consequence of this partnership is that there is no editor to review topics or provide feedback to improve your post.

I would love to employee an editor to help me create blog content that makes the grade when it comes to grammar, and punctuation and idea development. However if companies like News Corp and Hearst; created on an ideology of distributing news content can’t employee a full staff of watchful eyes, how can I possibly compete?

Readers please take my sincere apology for typos and such you might discover while reading my blog… Slash it with red-marks if you must but keep reading! Oh and keep the feedback coming.

(It’s nice to know that if there is no editors paid to review my content, my readers are doing it pro bono.)

XO!
SK

I am thrilled to announce the debut of my new collection of pillows: Touch of Grey for Fall 2009 available at maisonettestore.com. A little disclaimer depending on when you check the website, adding the collection is still a work in progress. It is an exciting but time consuming challenge to run a one-person small business while wearing many different hats. In between helping Greenwich clients make their homes a space of self expression, I take time to grow my small business. To manage everything from design conception to marketing material, etc. takes a bit of patience, luck and is an ever growing learning experience. Below is the start of the photo shoot to show off the new collection!

A few minutes later, using fabric we had in house, a new set!If you’ve ever modeled you might already know this… it is not as easy as it looks. To not only make your fingers and toes look relaxed while in a position that is not comfortable but made to look so is worth a day’s salary! With no stylist on board, I have to hope that my hair, pillows and posture are dead-on! Let me tell you all that at once makes the temperature go up a thousand degrees. Suddenly you’re shvitzed!

Outfit change! This 1940s flapper style dress reflected the inspiration I had for the pillows. I wanted a high glamor, very sophisticated feel in the collection. Also look for this picture to become the new Tigerlilys Greenwich ad debuting in Greenwich Magazine in October!

I am truly proud of the collection and hope it brings meaning and expression into a hundreds of homes!

For more check out: Maisonettestore.com and if they are not there today, try again tomorrow. Remember I am one man band

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THE ROAD JUST TRAVELED:

The dynmic duo, Betsy and Samantha Knapp were back together in the studio to kick off September! On our last show, Sam was piped in live from NYC as we prepared to meet with four different interior design magazines to show our amazing pillow collection. From Elle Decor Magazine to Metropolitan Home Magazine, each editor took time out of their busy deadline driven schedule to view our works.
We were a hit with Metropolitan Home, which twittered about our Touch of Gray Collection.

Amy Lau inspired Dexter for Showtime Show House

SHOW US THE SHOW:
Metropolitan Home Magazine by the way is working its little tail off right now with the launch of the Showtime Show House.

More than a dozen designers or design studios will transform the spaces, using shows such asCalifornication, Dexter, Nurse Jackie, The Tudors, United States of Tara and Weeds as their inspiration. The penthouses will be open on weekends for public tours from Sept. 12 to Oct. 18. Tickets cost $20, with all proceeds benefitting Housing Works, a nonprofit that works to end AIDS and homelessness.

We are excited to talk to the Metropolitan Home about the show house on our future show 9-22. Tune In!

HOLLYWOOD GIVES:

Speaking of Hollywood there is nothing desperate about helping Desperate Housewive’s Star Teri Hatcher raise money for charity. The ladies of the Lil are donating two sets of decorative pillows from our collection on maisonettestore.com to a garage sale fundraiser Hatcher is organizing in Los Angeles. Her publicist tells us: “Teri was just in Kenya last year, I noticed the “Kenya” themed designs on the website and just wanted to have you pass along that info to the designer, in case she wanted to send those in particular (though all of them look incredible!)”

We did just that!

TALKING TIGERLILY’S TIP WITH THE GUNLOCKE COMPANY:

OJamie Mikelson of The Gunlocke Company took us from center stage hollywood to back stages offices of where all the wheeling and dealing gets done! With decades behind the desk dealing with desks, The Gunlocke Company has outfitted the most hard hitting offices to individual homes. In fact, several different US Presidents have sat in a Gunlocke chair signing into law some of the most important legislation in the books!

Office Decorator and Company Spokeswoman, Jamie Mikkelson offered these ideas:

Check out the website’s “Space Planner” – http://www.gunlocke.com/spaceplanner/ Literally gives you a complete package in 5 minutes of a rendering, 3D, pricing…etc for a project/office
Another Online tool “Green Calculator”-http://www.gunlocke.com/greencalculator/greencalculator.html. Calculates how our products can contribute toward a LEED project in less than 5 minutes.

GUEST CONTACT:

The Gunlocke Company, LLC/257 Park Ave South #14, New York , NY 10010/Tel 212 473 8300/ Fax 212 473 8409

CONTACT US:
We always love when guests sound off and dish on the topics we think are important. Want us to dish on a topic we haven’t yet covered? We want you to share your ideas with us. You can come by the store 241 East Putnam Avenue in Cos Cob CT across from the Cos Cob school and let us know what you want to hear…or we can simply answer your questions in person. You can also contact us through our website tigerlilysgreenwich.com or blog talkingtigerlilys.wordpress.com or follow me on twitter samanthaknapp.

HOLLYWOOD & HOME SWEET HOME

The Talk at Tigerlily’s and around town is the Hollywood Headline referencing our home sweet home and its new leading man, Justin Timberlake! Word on the streets is the former boy bander turned high fashion designer and movie heart throb extraordinaire is moving into a 18.7 million dollar home in Conyer’s Farm. Conflicting reports have Timberlake taking to the suburbs like a birdie to a tee and true to his passion for golf a soon to be member of Stanwich Club, while others have the pop star keeping it trendy in a four-million plus pad in New York City.

ECO-CELEBS

Speaking of celebrity homes and lifestyle lure, perhaps the most progressive of the whole studio lot is those that chose to live green. The likes of Ed Norton, Cameron Diaz and front runner, Leonardo DeCaprio lead by example in making environmentally conscious lifestyle choices.

THE NEW GREEN HOUSE

The Sheldrake Organization, responsible for the eco-friendly digs of Leo DiCaprio describes its new 32-story, 264-unit project River House as a Platinum LEED rated living environment utilizing environmentally responsible materials, green roofs, solar generation, progressive filtration and recycling technologies.

Talking Tigerlily’s talked with Sheldrake Director of Marketing, Monique Roeder who described the green movement as not only socially responsible but a lifestyle choice with maximum health benefits.

To dispel the myth that going green sacrifices quality and luxury, Roeder described the amenities as a collaberation with David Rockwell who was named to Interior Design Magazine’s Hall of Fame and received the Presidential Design Award for the Grand Central Terminal renovation.

“The resources and power behind the green movement has opened the industry to high quality sustainable resources that to the touch, eye and feel are just as luxurious as traditional materials used in the building and construction of living spaces,” Roeder says.

GOING GREEN IN GREENWICH

Beacon Hill of Greenwich, the concept of Belray Capital is at the forefront of going Green in Greenwich. Located on Sound Drive, the multi-unit high-living development is focused on providing future residents with convenience to dynamic downtown Greenwich in an environment that offers ultimate luxury and sustainability with healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction, operation, and maintenance.

“The typical green consumer is changing. It is not just for the stereotypical Birkenstock wearing environmentalist, we are meeting the desires of luxury consumers who are increasingly concerned about environmental issues,” says Ron Young managing partner of Belray Capital.

IT’S EASY BEING GREEN

According to the Environmental Protection Agency the green movement is gaining momentum fueled by celebrity endorsements and a wide scale awareness of the impact building and development has on our natural environment.

A recent EPA study found, “adopting green building strategies can maximize both economic and environmental performance.”

Potential benefits of green building can include lower energy bills and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. On the environmental end it can improve air and water quality, reduce waste in streams and conserve and restore natural resources.

TALKING TIGER LILY’S TIP ON GOING GREEN:

Thanks to all our Talking Tigerlily’s listeners every Tuesday 9:30-10:00 AM. We encourage our listeners to sound off on our blog, drop us an email with suggestions, design questions. When we are not on the radio, you can catch us at the design studio, Tigerlily’ at 241 East Putnam Road in Cos Cob, CT 06807. We are open Mon-Fri 9:30AM – 4:30 PM and by appointment on Saturday. For more information visit our website: tigerlilysgreenwich.com.

TICK-ED

While my intent is to blog about design and all the wonderful ways creativity finds its way into every day life, I have to pause for minute to express a thought on parking tickets.

My car seems to be on the radar for Greenwich Police. Twice in two days, I have returned to my car to find a issued fine. The biggest surprise was a ticket on Sunday in the parking lot across from L’Escale. The ticket at $55.00 not only threw me for a loop but killed my theory that no one gets tickets on Sunday.

Websites such as appealnow.com argue that local authorities have moved away from: using parking tickets as a traffic flow measure and towards a revenue generation model, their staff have been under increasing pressure to ‘perform’.

While I don’t attest that is the case in my infraction, I was upset to learn that indeed I was ticketed in an almost vacant lot on Sunday.

As luck would have it, or lack there of… On Monday I parked quickly on Greenwich Avenue to enter the Post Office to mail my infraction. Currently construction in the area prevents parking close to the post office and monitoring traffic flow. I was forced to park further away then anticipated and didn’t have any quarters to spare.

Once again, a ticket greeted me on the way out the door! The adage, “time is money” never rang so true. Ten minutes and a $25.00 fine. That’s more then minimum wage!

Be that as it may, I am now digging deep into my pocket to pay my tickets and issuing my own warning in town. What use to appear to be a laid back policy on parking now seems to be anything but!

Tapped In

While Greenwich has always been home sweet home, I have had many wonderful opportunities to experience other parts of the country, Bloomington, Indiana among it.  As an undergraduate, I experienced everything from social experience to social science.  It took 10 years but I am finally tapped back in to my post-graduate days!

I caught up with a fabulous old friend  from Indiana University and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sister, Sarah Olson last night at the W Hotel in Union Square to hear about her amazing new project. She is among the amazing group behind the new documentary, “Tapped”  debuting in New York’s IFC Theater in the West Village tomorrow night.

It was great to share a night, laugh at the past and chat about the future. Sarah is among the producers of “Who Killed the Electric Car,”  and her best friend Stephanie Soechtig presenting a wonderful inception into the most basic life sustaining fluid, water, and how it the twists and tangles behind the store bought bottles.

The inspiring documentary trails the path of the bottled water industry and the communities are unwitting chips on the table. A powerful portrait of the lives effected by the bottled water industry, this revelatory film features those caught at the intersection of big business and the public’s right to water.

www.tappedthemovie.com

Wet to Wild:

Who doesn’t like  a man in his skivvies?  I am thrilled to be attending the launch party of the Bjorn Borg Men & Women’s underwear launch at Peter Elliot. Could be a grand slam. Tonight: 6-8 1070 Madison Avenue @ 81st.

Talking Tigerlily’s

I have a feeling you may be interested in Talking Tigerlily’s, Tuesday’s guest, Barbara Reader who is a spiritual medium shed light on positive and negative energies in your home. In fact Reader attributes these energies to everything from an unsure feeling when you walk into a room to the inability to sell a home.

In a space that has a “weird” feeling, Reader suggests burning incense or sage and asking the energy that is negative in the room to pass on. At the risk of misinterpreting our conversation I will leave it at that and pass along her contact information. Barbara Reader is a renowned medium and physic counselor. Listen to our conversation on WGCH.COM, Talking Tigerlily’s Archives for July 28th or call Barbara at 212.580.9106.

If you have any great ideas for our show or any questions, contact us at the store, Tigerlily’s in Cos Cob, 241 East Putnam Avenue. Also visit us on the web, tigerlilysgreenwich.com.