We are not only dog lovers here at Mimi Green, but major animal lovers. We don’t descriminate!  Here at the office we have a pet goldfish, lots of pet shrimps, 4 snails and our employees collectively have 14 dogs (of course!), 2 parrots, a dove, a gecko & 3 cats.

Our lovely black moor goldfish Kermie is, next to Chupa, the unofficial office mascot. I fell in love, and I mean head over heels in LOVE, with him last April because he looks like a pug (correction, he looks exactly like Chupa!)

He’s in a sphere tank called a Biorob, so it is super hard to get a photo of his beautiful face! But he has HUGE eyes, a stunning butterfly tail and is about as big as a softball. His mouth is crooked so his top lip doesn’t exactly match up with his bottom lip. Also, one of his gills doesn’t work quite right which could have been caused by not great water quality at his previous home (the pet store took him in from a customer) or he just has a birth defect.

Kermie while he was still at the pet store

I think that no one wanted him from the pet store because he is older and totally imperfect, but that’s one reason I love him.

He is ALWAYS hungry so if you put your hand up to the tank he tries to bite you. And everytime I stick my hand in his tank he bites, err, kisses me all over my arm.

He totally knows my face and when I approach his tank he comes right over to say hello.

I’ve had some OCD decorating his Biorb though. I think we are on the 3rd aqua scape in the past year and getting ready for the 4th.

I love him so much I actually got a second tank to grow his favorite treat, narrow leaf anacharis.  They don’t sell it in town and it costs a ton to overnight, so complete with grow lights, I have a whole new set up. Blog post on that tank and its inhabitants soon!

Kermie in his Biorb

Right now Kermie lives in the packaging/printing office, but next week when I move to my new and improved larger office in the suite next door, I’m taking him with me.

One other thing, he lives with 3 snails who I’ll tell you about later. Kermie deserved his own post

I saved the best for last.

Not only is Kermie deformed, but he is half bind (see, just like Chupa! and no this isn’t the best part. Keep reading….) His big ol’ eyeballs have a foggy film over them that makes it very hard to see. I had no idea he was blind when I met him since he would come right up to the glass when I would visit him.

I quickly learned that my very hungry man couldn’t see the first time I fed him and he couldn’t find it! I tried everything, fish flakes, sinking pellets, a clip on the side of the tank and he could never find the dang food!

I wondered if he might be able to see color so I positioned a red tupperware lid in his tank and dropped the food right onto it.  After a few times of hand feeding him off the lid, he learned that there was food on the tupperware! He still has no idea when I feed him, but he checks for food on the lid many, many times a day.  I feel so proud that I was able to train my goldfish to eat off a plate! I like to say he has really good manners and that’s why he insisted on having a dish to eat from.

The current aquascape complete with his red Tupperware

Kermie has taught me things that at 31 years old I didn’t know about myself. A year ago I would have never thought a person could get so attached to a goldfish, but man has this little guy made his way into my heart.

He is such a strange and funny fish, everyone who’s met him finds him to be extremely charming.  Even the people who work at the pet store still ask about him.

He’s my baby and I probably spend way to much time hanging with him, Paula’s even asked me if I want to quit my job to take care of my fish.  I’ve thought that proposal over, but seriously, if I quit my job who will pay for Kermie’s food and decor!?!

I love this photo. It reminds me of an early 1900s photo where everyone is so stoic.

Zack is such a ham, he didn’t take a single bad photo.

and Zelda has such a great “pug” look to her. She is as sweet as she is beautiful too.

We had some bloopers too, Zack decided he was such a good model that he should be in EVERY photo, so he photo bombed Stella.

And of course, no photo shoot would be complete without Chupa.

The pugs had so much fun, Zack asked if he could give you all a coupon to save some $ on these new styles. I’m weak to him, so I agreed.

Coupon good till April 25!

Some may tire of all the “this is what I ate for lunch” photos, but that kind of lightheartedness is what makes my day. Call me crazy, but I can really escape in photos of the yummy dinner you cooked or how cute your kiddo /doggie is. Meanwhile, logging on to Facebook can sometimes be more frustrating than anything else.

And then there’s this:

Chef Jamie Oliver’s feed (be still my heart!) . And he’s not the only star doing it — you can pretty much follow any tv personality, blogger, or celebrity that you are into.

So if you’re into Instagram as much as me or want to give it a look, make sure to search for #mimigreen for some super sweet photos of doggies wearing our collars (and if you post any photos of your pooches in our collars, please make sure to tag #mimigreen — we love seeing all the new photos!)  And if you want to see tons of pug, food, and Mg office photos follow me at amandajmiller. 

(isn’t Minion cute! She is our manager Paula’s puppy and she is tuning 1 next week! She came from the the Save a Mexican Mutt Rescue  which is an awesome organization who helps save dogs on the streets in and around San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.)

We started with Grape, Raspberry, Forrest Green, Aqua Blue and Black but will have tons of other colors by summer.

I was skeptical, but these collars turned out more awesome than I could have imagined!

We also used the reflective ribbon to make our Personalized Buckle Dog CollarsThe 3M reflective tape looks grey in daylight, but even indoors any ray of light reflects brightly on this collar. This way any approaching vehicle will spot you and your dog from up to 1000 feet away so you will both stay safe on your evening walks!

]]> http://www.shopmimigreen.com/blog/cute-reflective-dog-collars-oh-my/feed/ 0 http://www.shopmimigreen.com/blog/mimi-green-black-friday-2012-sale/ http://www.shopmimigreen.com/blog/mimi-green-black-friday-2012-sale/#comments Sun, 18 Nov 2012 00:09:06 +0000 amanda http://www.shopmimigreen.com/blog/?p=188 Continue reading →]]>

Mimi Green Black Friday Sale * Coupon Code = MimiBlack

Shop our annual Black Friday sale — use code MimiBlack to save 30% off anything (personalized dog collars, embroidered dog collars, dog harnesses, leashes, dog collar flowers & bow ties, and more!)  made by Mimi Green.

Coupon vaild Black Friday Nov 23, all weekend long, and Cyber Monday Nov 26. Happy Dog Collar shopping!

Yes, those are Molly Mutt beds on my couch cushions! Aren’t they cool? This is her brand  new bed, Nightswimming.  I covered the back pillows with a Amy Butler fabric this past winter, but the cushions were falling apart. Between my two boys and my 3 dogs, these cushions were wrecked! We’ve been looking for a new couch for about 6 months but every time we see our boys jumping off the arms, eating on it, etc. we put off the new purchase.  Not only that, but no matter what we do we can’t train the doggies to stay off!

I think Dan said it best when he said “If we can’t keep the dogs off the couch, we will make the couch into a dog bed.”  I can’t say he looked to happy while saying it, but I’ll take what I can get

Yeah, it is kinda strange to cover your couch in dog beds, but I am taking comfort in the fact that not a single person on this planet has a couch quite like mine.

Plus, with all the the awesome Molly Mutt fabrics no one would ever even know these are dog beds!

They look so pretty and feel so nice I almost feel like I got a new couch. Plus, I think I saved the couch from having to go to the landfill (yes, the cushions were that bad!)

They belong to my friend Tracy, she says they are a pug gang but I’m not too scared Although, anytime someone is missing an eye I gotta wonder what happened to the other guy in the fight! The missing eye defiantly makes Zoe look mysterious

Zelda is wearing our new Cora collar, Zack is wearing the Tangerine Collar, Zoe is in the Madeline Collar and all three of them are wearing our laser engraved personalized collar buckles!

What I love about these personalized collars is that there is no need for noisy jingling tags, but Tracy likes the look of their handmade tags so these pugs wear both.

I know it must be hard to choose between the plastic and metal engraved buckle collars, so I thought I’d put together a list about each of their qualities to help.

PLASTIC ENGRAVED PERSONALIZED DOG COLLAR BUCKLE:

1. The plastic buckle is contoured, the metal buckle is not. (This is mainly why the Carlson Pugs are wearing the plastic)
2. I like the look of the white engraving on the black buckle, it is really different and super good looking.

METAL ENGRAVED PERSONALIZED DOG COLLAR BUCKLE:

1. The metal buckle feels really special. It weighs the same amount as the plastic buckle, but it feels more substantial.
2. I like that the engraving on the metal buckle looks like the engraving on a dog Id tag. It just makes sense.

I think that either way you can’t go wrong. They are both really wonderful buckles and they are both super strong (which is very important in a dog collar buckle).  My dogs are currently using the plastic buckles and we love them. I also have an engraved plastic buckle on my camera strap (pictures coming very soon — it looks SO cool!) with my named engraved. Tracy’s dad came up with that idea — brilliant, right!? I feel so happy every time I see my buckle with MY name on it! I imagine that my dogs feel the same way about their engraved buckles (well they would if they could read right!)

]]> http://www.shopmimigreen.com/blog/personalized-collars-no-jingling-tag/feed/ 1 http://www.shopmimigreen.com/blog/spring-is-in-the-air-new-dog-collars/ http://www.shopmimigreen.com/blog/spring-is-in-the-air-new-dog-collars/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:22:16 +0000 amanda http://www.shopmimigreen.com/blog/?p=84 Continue reading →]]> We love the Spring here at Mimi Green. Spring is great because it is 1. the end of winter and 2. Spring collar time! Every Spring we design 5-7 new fabric collars which will be our staples for the year. This year was especially fun because we had SO many awesome fabrics to choose from. So, with no further ado, meet Cora, Jones, Louie, Stella Blue & Stella Rose!
I think this might be our strongest line ever (I probably say that every year, right!?) But seriously, I LOVE every one of these collars! I loved Stella so much that I had to make it in two color ways. It is a super funky West Indies pattern, it looks like a fabric you’d find in Anthropologie.

I also am super excited because two of the collar patterns are specifically for boy dogs. We get asked a lot to make more masculine collars and this year we listened. The Louie and the Jones are just about as masculine as a designer fabric dog collar can get.  I can totally imagine a big male dog sporting either one of these collars with pride

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our very popular Caroline Collar this month, but its replacement, Cora, is just as beautiful.

As with all of our collars, these are named after dogs we know and love. Just for fun, meet the real :

So here’s to the tulips blooming, allergies kicking in, more daylight and new doggie collars!  Gotta love the Springtime.

(Cora & Jones photos by the amazing Kim Jackson Photography)

& to celebrate, please use code Spring2012 to save 15% off of any of these new styles of collars, leashes, harnesses and key fobs!