no one loves these more than md

NY Times Magazine giving props to the clothespin.

gone, but not forgotten

Today Erin sent a picture of the tree, or lack thereof, that used to stand in the center of our apartment courtyard at Georgetown (a.k.a.) The Fishbowl. It has been cut down since the last time we visited. And I just can't resist . . .

“And after a long time the boy came back again.
"I am sorry, Boy," said the tree, "but I have nothing left to give you-
My apples are gone."
"My teeth are too weak for apples," said the boy.
"My branches are gone," said the tree.
"You cannot swing on them-"
"I am too old to swing on branches," said the boy.
"My trunk is gone," said the tree.
"You cannot climb-"
"I am too tired to climb," said the boy.
"I am sorry," sighed the tree.
"I wish that I could give you something... but I have nothing left. I am an old stump. I am sorry..."
"I don't need very much now," said the boy, "just a quiet pleace to sit and rest. I am very tired."
"Well," said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could,
"well, an old stump is a good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest."
And the boy did.
And the tree was happy.”
― Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree

a woman with a plan

Have you ever bought a baseball bat for a little boy that you don't have yet? Or a tutu for a ballerina who hasn't been born? Just got off the phone with a really wonderful Chicago customer! She needed a Christening gift and we had an adorable 6 to 12 month dress in stock for her (featuring pretty paisley pink fabric - one of my favorites). She told me that she has a maggie delaney dress at her house, but that she can't give it away! It is for the little girl she knows she will have one day! :)

keeping creativity in school

maggie delaney loves creativity. With spring semester comes standardized tests and "getting through the material" -- the very things we loathe about teaching and learning this time of year. Our hope for 2012 is that every maggie delaney girl has a chance each day to be creative in some way. The readings today at church was about the 3 wise men bringing gold frankincense and myrrh. The story of the 3 wise men always reminds me of my favorite education reformer, Ken Robinson, who talks about creativity, frankencense, and schools in perhaps the best TED talk ever. Watch Ken's talk, listen for the story of the 3 wise men, and comment with your favorite quote.

Let there be light!

Last night, after about 12 hours without power, the lights (and most importantly) the air conditioner turned on. However, my sister is still without power after a week of being in Texas, where I am sure it is not too comfortable. So, we're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping her power will return. The neighborhood generators that kept her up all night are in some serious peril, if not.

So what is the antidote to hot night, power or no power? Greek Salad. My favorite. It's what's for dinner tonight.

My favorite recipe is kind of a collaboration between myself and Dave Lieberman (the cutie from the Food Network):

4 Boneless breast of chicken (I use the thin cut, usually. You can use full breasts or tenderloins. For four of us, I use 3/4 to a lb.)

Marinade for the chicken:
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp oregano (Dave says 1)
a couple of pinches of salt (I like Kosher or ground sea salt)
10 grinds of black pepper (I like more, but I think some might say I am a tad aggressive with the pepper)

Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 lemon juiced (if you don't have the extra lemon - it is more important in the marinade, just add about a tbsp more red wine vinegar)
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced (I use one clove because I don't strain them out. If you are going to strain them, use 2.)
1 tsp dried oregano
3 pinches salt
10 - 15 grinds black pepper

For the salad:
2-3 heads of romaine or 1-2 heads of red leaf washed and cut lettuce (Dave likes romaine, I like red leaf lettuce.)
1 cucumber (peeled or unpeeled chunks or rounds . . . you choose)
3 vine ripened tomatoes (cored and cut into 1/2 inch chunks) - sometimes I used halved grape tomatoes instead
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup pitted Kalmata olives
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Marinate the chicken in a zip lockish type bag in the refrigerator for a few hours.

To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a resealable container and shake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Grill or put the chicken on a grill pan (cooking time depends on chicken you have chosen). Let the chicken for 10 minutes before cutting it (if necessary depending on type of chicken you used)

Assemble the salad leaving the feta for last. Add the chicken. Shake dressing and pour over the top. I like the garlic in there, but Dave strains the garlic using the top.

home again, home again, with no power...

Kelly made it home to Chicagoland today from the weekend at the BSAF. She flew into O'Hare, so the delayed flight wasn't a shocker. But, she texted me to report that once she got home she was surprised at how strong the storms were when they went through Chicago this morning. Knocked off porches and destroyed garages. Lots of trees down. Her house is fine, but the power is out and she doesn't expect it to be on again for a few days. Yuck.

new! maggie delaney meadow top

Trying to decide whether she likes the new maggie delaney Meadow top more than her maggie delaney dresses, our model had to pause to think about it... Finally, she decided she likes the Meadow top better, and this is coming from a girl who is all about dresss. Clearly, she knows cute when she wears it. We think she has room in her closet for both.

Hinsdale Arts Festival

Hinsdale was beautiful today! Perfect weather. Fun people. Lots of enthusiastic little girls picking out their favorite designs. But the best part of the day was at the very end. After packing up, my husband and I decided to go grab dinner. Driving up Garfield Street on my way to the Country House ( because who doesn't need a burger at the end of two days at a show?), I spied a little girl on her roller blades sporting a maggie delaney with reckless abandon. Highlight of the day!

md checks out Destination ImagiNation

On Tuesday, Erin and her kids are going to Knoxville, TN for the Global Finals of Destination ImagiNation. 5 teams from the Aberdeen school district qualfied. Both Maggie's team and Henry's team qualified this year. So excited to go back to a place with over 26,000 people all engaged in the pursuit of creative thinking. It's definitely a place where everyone feels free to express their creativity. The kids made duct tape outfits to wear to the Duct Tape Ball while we are there. I'll post pictures on FB... stay tuned.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

First gift certificate order of the year with a Merry Christmas in the message!

The big sellers at Wells Street

What did everyone want at the Wells Street Art Festival this weekend? maggie delaney. We were hopping all weekend long and loving it. So, what was the big hit in the maggie delaney booth? The perfect dress - the Monarch and the maggie delaney bandana. Spring in Chicago has been chilly and rainy, and everyone was drawn to the Monarch sun dresses, floating in the breeze.

The other hot item was the maggie delaney bandana. We noticed a couple different moms buying one bandana for their baby girls and then coming back later to buy 3 more! The babies can't easily pull them off, and they look especially adorable on the baby girls who are not sporting a lot of hair.

summer arts festival time and maggie delaney give away

maggie delaney is excited to see our adorable dresses hanging on clothes lines at two of our favorie summer arts festivals: Wells Street in Chicago June 12 and 13 and the Brookings Summer Arts Festival in South Dakota July 10 and 11.

In honor of all of the great summer arts festivals out there, maggie delaney is hosting a drawing right now on the maggie delaney Facebook page and the maggie delaney Fishbowl blog. Post your favorite summer arts festival on either our Facebook page or blog, and you will be entered into a drawing to win a maggie delaney monarch in the orange you glad it's spring fabric combination (you choose the size). Post by Wednesday, May 26 to be entered in our drawing.

orange you glad it's spring?

Having lived in the Washington, DC area for a good portion of my life, I absolutely, positively love spring. The cherry blossoms around the tidal basin make me smile. I remember waddling around the tidal basin when I was super pregnant with Miss Maggie, just wishing she would be born. And, I remember when she was not quite a year old, she and I woke up really early (probably 5:30 am) on a Saturday morning and I packed her and the stroller in the car, drove into DC and watched the sun rise as we walked through the cherry blossoms.

At any rate, what I love most about spring is seeing color again. After the dreary skies of late winter and the white snow and brown grass, the colors of spring are so encouraging and hopeful. I never get into the newness of the New Year, but I love the newness of spring. Spring must be the season for optomists.

To celebrate the optomism of spring, maggie delaney is featuring a fabric combination we call Orange You Glad it's Spring in the ready made/store portion of our website. Order the dress in sizes 3-6 months up to 8 years now, and we will ship it to you right away.

To a t

We are trying some new t shirt concepts . . . we'd love to hear what you think of this one.

This was designed to go with the alien flowers skirt for our Facebook contest winner, Su. When I went to drop it off at her house, there were two storks in her front yard. She had twins! So exciting. I am hoping that the outfit will make her oldest daughter feel special as she finds out what having siblings is all about.

A Chicken in Every Pot

I made a stir fry yesterday from "Cuisine at Home," and it was not good -- at all. So, I had to redeem my dinner-making prowess tonight. I ran to a Giada for help. I love her family cookbook.

I made this amazingly simple baked chicken tonight for dinner, and Maggie said it was the best meal she has ever had! It really was delicious. Here's the recipe:

Giada's Garlic Citrus Baked Chicken

That's Giada photographed above, not me... I'll have to work on that one. I don't think there's a recipe.

Halloween Sugar Cookies, oh my!

Just a bit confused Saturday morning... I woke up thinking Halloween was this week and I needed to make sugar cookies for Henry's Halloween party at school this week. It's opening pheasant hunting season so the kids and I were husband/fatherless on Saturday and I started sifting powdered sugar and mixing the dough, using the delicious sugar cookie recipe my mom always used from the Betty Crocker Cooky Book. I usually double the recipe, which means I have to use 3 cups of powdered sugar and a whole pound (gasp) of butter. Wouldn't Julia be proud? At any rate, I must need to brush up on my multiplication tables because I went to double the eggs... and, well, the recipe calls for 1 egg and soon I realized I had put 4 eggs in the dough! I was a bit sad about needing to dump a pound of butter when Maggie suggested that I quadruple the recipe instead. I decided we could easily give away sugar cookies and went for it. It was 6 hours later, when I was on the phone with my mom, that I realized Halloween is two weeks away... So, now I have a bakery size lump of sugar cookie dough in my fridge. I'm steeling myself to roll out all these cookies. I think they'll keep okay in the fridge if I bake them now and frost them just before Halloween? Any bakers out there with some advice?

Early Fall in maggie delaney

Thanks to Maureen for these adorable shots. How did they know that hydrangeas are our favorite?

And the winner is . . .

And what an adorable winner she is! An alien flowers zebra style skirt is what Su has selected! We're going to surprise her with the other fabrics! Hope they love it.

Thanks to everyone who shared their great pics with us. We will definitely do another give away soon. Keep an eye out for our md emails!

New Skirts: Part 2

The other cute Boden t-shirt that came is screaming to be paired with the Kaleidoscope purple. What do you think?

New Skirts for the Girls

Received some really cute t shirts from Boden this week . . . have been working on md skirts to complement them. This is what I have decided: pink cord, fabulous cream and minnie. I am loving it!