Mimi Green Blog = Fun stuff for your Stylish Dog

My favorite holiday, or anyday, cookie

I have a confession to make. I am a serious cookie-holic.  Don't feel bad though, I am kind of proud of it ;)

Because of my addiction, I consider myself to be a cookie connoisseur of sorts. If you want to know about good cookies, I am the lady to ask.

Last year I came upon a recipe for Holiday Snowballs and I became infatuated. I made them a few times last Christmas, and at least 10 times this season so I think I have finally made the last adjustment to perfection.

Aren't they beautiful!!??!! I actually took all of these beauties to our master seamstress Jessi's holiday party and I didn't even cry when I had to share them. I am proud of that too ;) 

The recipe said to dust them in powdered sugar (so they look like snowballs) but this year I found that rolling them in sparkly sugar makes them look like jewels, which seems ever better.

So  here it is, my all time favorite cookie recipe:

Snowballs (aka super yummy shortbread cookies)

1 1/2 c. (3 sticks butter) softened

3/4 c. powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. salt

3 cups all purpose flour

1 bag Nestle white morsels

1/2 c. chopped nuts (I like them with pecans)

Preheat oven to 375.

Beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Slowly add the flour. Stir in morsels and nuts.

Then roll balls the size of your palm (roll in colored sugar if making them look like jewels is your bag) and put on cookie sheet and bake for exactly 12 minutes or until the tops are light brown.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar (if you didn't roll them in sugar) and wait patiently for them to cool. They taste way better cool.

Tadda! Meet the best cookie you will ever eat. 

Noah made them with milk chocolate chips and they rocked. They were super rich, but if you make them small they are great with a cup of coffee.

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking of other things I could put in these babies, that's when I finally had to talk to a professional about my obsession. lol.  I think that they would be amazing with walnuts and semi-sweet chips or even with no chips at all.

If you try this, let me know! I'd love to hear if anyone else thinks they are as good as I do. I like them so much I'd marry them, but don't tell Dan!

Happy Pig-a-versary!

Today marks one year since Piggie, (aka Olive) came to live with us! 

 
She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, I am so in love with this pug. Check out those beautiful eyes!

 

She got a new collar as her present for making our lives so awesome this year and touching our hearts more than any other dog I have ever had. Tomorrow we are going to celebrate with a doggie cake, I can't wait to see her dig in! 

Poor Piggie had it really rough the first 2 years of her life and at this point you would never know. It took her 9 months to start to warm up to Dan but now she is madly in love with him (and what woman wouldn't be really, he's a cutie ;) 

The first day I had her I wanted to give her back because she wouldn't even let me touch her. That would have been such a huge mistake. I called my friend Tracy to come over and see what a mess of a pug I brought home and she totally convinced me to give it some time because she could tell how sweet Piggie was. Boy was she right! 

So Happy Anniversary Piggie. I can't imagine my life without you!!

 

DEER Dan,

Please start to like my deer horns, they are here to stay and I think they kinda rock.

Love Amanda.

Super cool right? I bought it 4 doors down at an estate sale, decoupaged the wooden back, and painted the horns white.  I used the Amy Butler scrapbooking paper you can buy at Joanns, it was hard to choose which color because they all rocked, but I had to go with the Green. It was only right.

Dan isn't very impressed, neither is Noah really. But I think they are so Anthropologie and so hip. What do you think?

We made it!

This year's holiday season is finally behind us, and I have to say that I am pretty proud of everyone here at Mimi Green. In December alone we shipped over 315 orders -- can you believe it???  Christmas 08 we shipped 40 orders, which seemed like a TON at the time. Boy, I sure wasn't ready for the rush we had this year!

Although I was super tired and still don't think I have recovered, we had a really great Christmas here at the Jackson-Miller house.

We put up a tiny tree for the kids. My mother in law sent Dan's ornaments from when he was a kid and we used those.

 

The kids had a good time opening all the presents Santa brought, although every one Auggie opened from me he said "I don't like it".  The elmo slippers that I thought would be a huge hit made him cry!

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 This hat wasn't a hit either until Dan said he was going to wear it and then Auggie liked it ;)

Here's a photo of one of the slower days! I hope all of you who got packages from us this Holiday Season loved your collars and leashes. I have some photos that I will post soon so you can see some our our customers in their holiday gear.

Here's to a great new year! I think 2010 is going to be really good for us.I hope it is really great for you too.

xoxo, amanda

Anniversary Trip

Mr. Miller suprized me with the most awesome 3rd wedding anniversary present last weekend, a trip to Ojo Caliente, NM.

We had all our friends come early for our wedding and stay with us and Noah at Ojo 3 years ago. (I can't believe it has been that long already!) Then on our wedding day, we all traveled an hour to the Loretto in Santa Fe, NM for the wedding. It was a dream come true.

Here we are on the special day. Noah looks so little and I look so skinny!

 

Now we are back to work. We've got lots of dog collars to make! It was nice to be away, but really nice to be back.

Hello stranger!

So I've been missing in action for awhile now, I know. Although I've said it before, my absence was for good reason.

Reason #1:

We hired a new staff. First few folks didn't work out, but 3rd time was the charm. Jessi started working with us about 6 weeks ago and we just adore her.  (Hope she doesn't mind that I stole this photo of her off Facebook!)

I could say that I have been so busy training her about all things Mimi Green and that is the reason I haven't blogged, but that is so far from the truth.  After the first week Jessi was rocking and rolling. Mr. Miller said she is going to be better at making collars than we are soon! We love her. She is not allowed to quit, ever. It was a bit stressful, okay a lot stressful, to hire lots of new people. It took up a lot of my attention and I thank God that is over for now.

Reason #2:

I have gone on a redecorating spree. The house looks like someone else's house -- and I have been keeping it clean! I couldn't figure out how to balance kids / husband/ business / house but now I think I am getting the hang of it.  Only took me 9 years!

Here are some views of our bedroom. I can't get enough of it. It is my first bedroom that feels like it belongs to a grown up. We also have been working on the yard:

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 See, check me out, I did my laundry AND hung it outside!

Reason #4

I kinda got a 4th dog!

Meet Coraline Jackson-Miller. I didn't exactly mean to get a 4th dog, but I did and we love her. She might take a plane ride to MN to live with Dan's family who are looking for a dog, but we will see. We are getting pretty attached;)

Reason #5, and the biggest reason for not blogging...

We designed a ton of new stuff! You can see our 2009 Holiday Gear on our site here

New Fall line here: 


And lots of new colors of flowers! There are some other new Mimi Green designs on the way, but those I will keep under wraps. Until next time, and I promise it won't be months this time!

Fell off the Radar...

I don't know how it happened, but I haven't written a post in a month!

So much has happened since then, so I will give you a quick photo essay to explain my absence.

First, the super awesome Paws on the Run placed a HUGE order with us! I was sewing sewing sewing and then suddenly it was Nov. 12 -- time to go to Mexico!

Here we are riding horses on the beach in Cabo San Lucas.  I would have had a better time if I hadn't missed my boys so much.

We came home after a week and I had to sew like a crazy woman once again! Got the order out in the nick of time since my order board was starting to overflow!

Then Auggie put jelly all over his belly.  (No this isn't Dan, it is Auggie. I know it looks EXACTLY like Dan but I know my own child and this is him. It is a good thing my husband is the most handsome man in the world, eh? I am tempted to have another baby just to see if it comes out looking like a clone of myself. It would only be fair.)

Sometimes the things this guy thinks are a good idea scare me. You've seen him eat coffee grinds, eat the dirt from plants, now jelly on the belly. I have my hands full, oh boy.

In my downtime I was surfing the net and read about this poor old, fat, black pug who had been dumped on the side of the highway and had no home. He was sleeping in the shelter, which although very nice, is still a shelter and kind of scary for dogs.  Dan owed me one for a stupid thing he did (no, I don't have pictures of that;)  ) so I was able to convince him to let us bring this little guy home just until he gets adopted.
Isn't he sweet? The name the rescue gave him is Rajah, which I love, but he won't answer to it. He does, however, answer to Harpo and Pug. And trust me, I must have called him a thousand names before he descided which he liked.

He has been such an awesome guy. I am just dying to find him a new owner. 

And then there has been Christmas orders for Mimi Green. More on that tomorrow!

Lastly, I got the best Pottery Barn knock off desk I have ever seen for my studio. I was gifted some money for my birthday and I figured I owed it to myself to make my work space nicer since I practlcally live in there!

I am so loving the shelves below it. And the room! I can actually put more than just my computer on my desk now. Plus, you might have noticed that I have shelves under my table now.  We moved the sawhorses out, which were genius but served no purpose, and replaced them with shelving to hold all my webbing supplies. Another idea I stole from Pottery Barn, only their table like this costs $1000.

 
And Cessie loves were her bed sits now -- Right in the sun!

Where did I get this desk awesomeness? You might of heard of it, it is a very exclusive little shop called Targ'et Boutique. And last week they had free shipping and 15% off.  What a very happy early birthday present to me huh!?!?

COOKIE MOON Natural Dog Wash Products

I have been dying to try Cookie Moon dog wash on Cessie because although she is super cute, she is also super smelly.  And greasy. Yes, it is gross at times.

Rebbecca at Cookie Moon was nice enough to send us some doggie soap from her ultra fantastic line. 

From the second that I opened her package I was feeling luxurious. The four little washes where wrapped so nicely and Rebbecca included a Sweet handwritten card. I couldn't get them out of their wrap fast enough -- I have been wanting to smell them for so long!

My expectations where right on about the smell-- they are amazing! And yes, it is possible to bottle the smell of S'mores. Don't ask my how, but it is.

 I decided to try out the Strawberry Shortcake Cookie first.

I can't say Cessie was terribly happy about this, in fact she ran away when the bath stated running.

But as usual she was a trooper.

The smell was enchanting, not gross and chemically smelling like the wash we usually use. It made my hands feel so soft and good, I was feeling so jealous of Cessie!

The suds were great, it washed off easily, and best of all, Cessie smelled great afterward!

I am a convert. I figure that if I use natural, high quality bath products on myself it is only fair that I do that for Etta and Cessie too.

They are very special girls after all and deserve the best!

Although I am sure Cessie would argue that baths are torturous no matter what soap you use! 

You can buy COOKIE MOON at my shop, www.ShopMimiGreen.com

$13 for 8 ounces, $16.25 for the sampler pack.

Buying a Sewing Chair and Tracing an Image for Embroidery 101

You gotta love Craigslist. I have been looking for weeks for a chair that I can use in my studio to both sew and work on my computer. I want it to have wheels, or legs thick enough to add wheels, be made of wood and upholstery, and be a color that will brighten my life. 

As you can imagine, this hasn't been an easy find. Then last weekend I see this gold chair on Criagslist that looks like it is screaming for someone to embroider in. Not necessarily the chair that I am in need of, but a cool chair non the less. And the price tag? $10. A total steal! 

           

I put it in my room near my two favorite windows in the house.  

It fits in perfectly like it was always meant to be there. 

Oh and what's even better -- when I got to the woman's house to pay for it I only had a twenty dollar bill and she didn't have change so she gave it to me for free!

She said that she just wanted it to have a good home, and a good home it now has. I totally love it. 

And... I've already been doing some sewing in it. Wanna see?

This is just a peek, I am making an art quilt of sorts and will be posting bits and pieces of it here and there until I can reveal the finished piece.  

To get a real bug shape in motion I printed out a picture of a live bug from the Internet, taped it down to my light box, and traced it onto the fabric. Totally easy solution to putting an image onto fabric to embroider. I've also heard of using a window for the same technique. Just tape the image up to a sunny window and trace away! 

Oh and you can get the water soluble marker to do this at JoAnn's-- they are like $2 if you have the 40% off coupon. I don't know what brand it is, but I love love love the blue one that is marked "Water Erasable Fabric Marking Pen"  All you have to do to erase it when you are done embroidering is take a damp paper towel and blot the area. Off it comes, simple as that! But thankfully it doesn't come off very easily when you need it to stay put while sewing. 

Of course the bug I traced didn't have a purple butt or hot pink eyes. That was all me;)

There is no place like home

I've been thinking a lot lately about growth. 

I am feeling some growing pains at work which brings up so many new feelings. 

Watching Aug become a little man is both hard and exciting for me. I can't believe that only a few months ago he was a blip on an ultrasound screen and now he has opinions about things, he has places to go, things to see. 

And Noah, well compared to the little boy he was this time last year I barely recognize him. He has transformed out of his baby stage and after today he will be a third grader! I thought I was SO  old and mature in 3rd grade, that must be how he is feeling now too. 

And then there are these beautiful poppies that Dan bought for me at the beginning of Spring. They are finally growing and blooming but there is something quite strange about poppies -- 

These amazing blooms, well they only last a few days. The slightest breeze, the sprinkle of water on their flower, even a very hot day and they are toast. So beautiful and so big, they get like 18 inches tall, but so fragile. 

But they are always growing new flowers. When one dies off there is 2 to take its place. So maybe this plant isn't so fragile after all. hmmm. 

Off to bed I go. Just like Dorothy and the Lion, these poppies have made me really tired. Well that and the fact that I just got home from working the overnight shift I suppose! But comparing my life to the Wizard of Oz just makes me feel cooler you know? ;)

Enjoy the Spring sunshine today!