With the amount of requests we’ve received this week, it’s like someone let the Web Design Party Bus off at The Moxie Girls™ Lounge.  You guys are absolutely drunk with ideas for your websites and we are overwhelmed with exciting projects. Thank you for thinking of us!  If you’ve sent an estimate in the last couple weeks, make yourself at home, pour yourself a cocktail and we’ll be with you momentarily.

While we’re working our little fingers like mad to create incredible designs for our current couture design clients, we’ve also been busily creating designs for our labor of love, Femmeplates™.  We decided earlier this year that while we love creating designs for our clients, we also wanted to cut loose and design pretty things just because. We have to design for passion, not paycheck sometimes. It helps us keep things fresh for every client and not get in a rut, which can be easy to do if you’re not mindful.

Now, that’s not to say Femmeplates will be free. Let’s not get crazy!  These will be stylish, mostly female-centric, moderately-priced premium designs for Wordpress, Blogger or straight up HTML/CSS markup.  Femmeplates are

regurgitated freebie layouts with different banners, these are not templates created by others and modified by us, these are luxury designs lovingly created by us in our spare time so you can give your blog The Moxie Girls touch without waiting in the queue until you’re collecting social security.

There will be a few tiers of pricing, depending on the level of exclusivity you choose. We also must consider the licensing for the images used in the design, so that all parties involved get their copyright needs met. We respect stock illustrators (and all artists), their desire to protect their creations and we hope you do, too.

As these are designs of passion, so to speak, it means the looks you’ll find could be anything that strikes our fancy.  It could be seasonal, it could be bridal, it could be mommy-oriented, hobby-oriented, professional or whatever blows our dress up at the time.  We won’t be taking specific requests for Femmeplates — that would require a Request for Proposal for a custom project.  But, we

open to hearing your ideas, so if there’s a type of design you’d like to see in the Femmeplates showcase, drop us a line.  It doesn’t mean we will do it immediately, if at all, so don’t get bent if you don’t see it for a while. It’s nothing personal!  It simply means we’ll tuck it into our hat for the future.

The initial offering on August 11th will be select.  It’s a soft launch for testing the waters, so first come, first served.  No hair-pulling and no biting.  We don’t have that kind of insurance.

Have a great weekend!

Wait… that’s not how that goes…

Look, tequila gets artsy fartsy!  I was just reading on Cocktail Times how 1800 Silver is teaming up with nine artists throughout the United States and Mexico to create a fashion line of tequila bottles. How cool!

I usually prefer vodka, but I’ve been learning to appreciate tequila lately… and not in that “Oh my god, what happened last night?“ kind of way.  I tend to dig higher quality tequilas and preferably clear or “silver” tequilas.  I’m also more of a sipper than a shooter. My body shot days are long since over… thank god.    I’ve never had 1800 Silver, but I might give it a go for one of these bottles!

Margaritas are such a perfect summer drink, so here’s a recipe for a super-cute and very delicious-sounding version, courtesy of Cocktail Times. That needs to be tried asap!

Pink Margarita

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz reposado tequila
• 3/4 oz Monin wildberry syrup
• 3 oz sweet & sour

Garnish: pink salted rim, lime wheel and lime twist

Mix tequila, syrup and sweet & sour in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a salt rimmed margarita glass (or short glass) over ice. Garnish with lime wheel and a twist.

Happy Friday!

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but MommyCast Video is up and running!  MommyCast, the very popular podcast for parents, has their own video show!  Together with Podango, the site that manages the MommyCast & Friends Network, as well as hosts for many, many other podcasts, we came up with a fresh new look for MommyCast. 

Their original brand was designed by us several years ago, but this time we softened the look a bit, while still maintaining the bold, whimsical colors that Paige and Gretchen like so much and of course… the daisies!  Right now the look is applied only to the home page and video sections of the site, as the first phase of the new relaunch, but will eventually be branded site-wide.

The site runs on Wordpress through Podango, who developed the new site structure based on our design and the talented team at RHED Pixel manages the video production.

It’s only going to get better, so if you’re not listening to The Mommies, Paige & Gretchen of MommyCast, you still can! Their podcast is still in full swing, there’s just more to love with MommyCast Video!

You can check out a few more details about the project in our portfolio.

We had the pleasure of being interviewed by Angie, editor of BlogCoach.org this week.  They’re also having a book giveaway: one free copy of our book, The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie (and a cocktail shaker, too!).  Simply read the interview, then join the BlogCoach Community if you haven’t already and leave a comment on their “Giveaways” board by next Tuesday.

Thanks for the spotlight, Angie! 

Well, we finally figured things out regarding our little get-together in August. So here’s the scoop!

Kathy and I talked it over and instead of creating extraneous hoopla and stress, we decided to keep it relaaaaaaxed and caaaaaasual.    We’ve reserved a cabana and a few tables for spill-over on the patio at the Lei Lounge on Park Blvd. in the University Heights neighborhood of San Diego from 5pm to 7pm.  Lei Lounge runs their Saturday Happy Hour during this time, so it’s half price signature cocktails (only $4!) and I believe their are some food specials, as well. (And let me tell you, their crab empanadas are to die for...)

So, in a nutshell:

What: Drinks with Kathy and Joelle

Where: Lei Lounge (map)

When: Saturday, August 23rd from 5pm to 7pm

Why:  Because we’re awesome, that’s why! 

Kathy and I both will be there, cocktail in hand, ready to chat it up!  We’ll have some pens on hand, too, if you decide you’d like to bring your book for us to sign.  If you plan on being there (and if you plan on bringing a guest or two), please leave a comment here so I can get a rough headcount. We might need another cabana!

Looking forward to seeing you there…