I swear I am here even though my schedule has remained stagnant since the summer.  This year has been a total whirlwind.  I completed a ton of projects, which I am about to put in the portfolio as soon as I get a minute, not to mention our book The IT Girls Guide to Blogging with Moxie came out last month!  It’s been very exciting and we’ve gotten tons of praise and positive reviews on it so we’re just thrilled.  If you’d like to pick up a copy you can find it at Border’s Bookstores nationwide or on Amazon.com.  I know I m partial, being co-author and all, but it really is a useful guide for people looking to get into blogging and for seasoned bloggers looking to renew their interest in it.  I hope you’ll grab one and at least enjoy it for the fun goodies hidden throughout.

Schedule: I am now currently booked through the end of the year. I may squeeze a couple personal blog’s and some prefabs in here and there but I am going to be using any spare time this year to finish up some major projects we have going on internally.  If you have projects that you are interested in doing with us in January please do fill out the questionnaire and get your requests in.  And I cannot stress enough how helpful the questionnaire is for us in terms of expediting your request.  If you don’t send it in you’ll get an email from us asking for it.  *bats eyes*

In the meantime, hope everyone has a safe Thanksgiving holiday, survives the shopping frenzy that awaits afterwards and don’t overdose on pie.  Well, ok maybe just a little pie.  Gobble Gobble!

Allow me to join the masses in complaining about the heat.  Man, it’s HOT.  Even in glorious San Diego, where the average temperature is 75°, global warming is making it’s presence known.  I could do with my own personal palm frond fanner-type person, couldn’t you?

It’s been way too long since my last update here and this summer has just flown by!  So many things going on and so little time.

Right now, I’m working on several wonderful projects, including a magical storybook podcast site for kids, parents and educators, a hip and sassy podcast for moms, and a life-coaching “cocktail party” site for girls with goals!  Waiting in the wings is a centennial celebration for the fine state of Oklahoma!

I do have a stack of questionnaires to go through and many estimates to prepare!  If you’ve submitted one recently, you will receive a response before the end of this week. If you are unsure if I received it, please do not hesitate to resubmit it.  It can’t hurt!  I am booking projects to begin in mid to late September at this time and will be accepting limited projects so that I can provide my clients with the personal attention they deserve.

Thanks so much for your patience.  We appreciate your business very much and I look forward to working with you soon.

Stay cool and don’t forget your sunscreen!

I haven’t updated my schedule since Groundhog Day if that’s any indication of my life as of late.  I feel as though I have time warped to late spring and summer is rushing around the corner.  My how fast time goes by!  Even though I have yet to put my latest projects in the portfolio (it’s on my to do list, I swear) I have been busy finishing up a bunch of projects, helping with continued maintenance for some of my returning clients and busting my tail, along with Joelle, to hit our book deadlines.

I did a big redesign of a site for one of my old bosses who I worked for back in Philadelphia.  They are a fast growing Property and Construction Management company in the heart of Philadelphia, Athenian Properties, LLC.  They needed an updated site look and something to allow them to keep the content fresh easily.  I of course recommended ExpressionEngine and they are loving the ease of being able to add new projects and press items to their site in a snap.  They are pleased as champagne punch with how it has changed the flexibility of their site.

I also was fortunate enough to get the chance to work with Mia Chambers of AcumenVA, a talented and kind virtual assistant who is a recent graduate of the amazing AssistU program.  I have worked with a handful of women who are grads of the program and I always have a wonderful experience working with all of them.  We worked together to develop Ms. Chambers logo, branding and website.  With her new duds we enlisted the help of a talented colleague of mine to finish her off with some gorgeous new stationary.  Mia is on her way, in style. 

I am neck deep in developing a new website for one of the authors of Market Busters, Rita Gunther McGrath, who has asked us to design her personal site highlighting her achievements in business, speaking, and writing.  Her new site will be online soon!  While I have actually *gasp* caught up on my project load for once I am taking some time to pay attention to items around here that need to be done.  We’re working on some big stuff that we hope to launch over the summer and of course, finishing up The IT Girls Guide to Blogging with Moxie is on the top of my priority list as well.  I’d like to mention that we’ve begun pre-sales on Amazon.com.  It would make a great read or gift for that savvy woman in your life who wants an informative guide with some feminine oomph.  Get your copy reserved today.  Thanks to everyone for their support so far.

I have a few things slated for summer, but I will be accepting new mid-sized projects for that time period so if you’d like to inquire and get an estimate please let me know!  Hope everyone is surviving allergy season better than I am.  Achoo!

Oh, how time has flown and I absolutely cannot believe that it’s May.  May. Already!  We’ve been so busy that I’ve just not had a chance to stop and smell the flowers, but since May is supposed to be full of ‘em, I might get my chance. 

Over the past 6 months or so I learned many, many lessons about how much one woman can handle.  Kathy and I often work on separate projects and once in a while, I bite off more than I can chew.  Let’s just say for a while my bites haven’t been dainty — my schedule was packed.  Fortunately, the clients I had the pleasure of working with were patient and enthusiastic.

Our first book, The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie is available on Amazon for pre-order if you’re interested in nabbing one.  There’s nothing like seeing your name as “author” on Amazon.com.  It’s totally incredible.  I’m so proud of us!  Writing a book in addition to clients projects is really something I will learn to juggle better in the future, but it was really a fantastic experience. I don’t think Kathy and I have ever laughed so hard.  It’s a fun one, so don’t expect flavorless techie fare.

This morning we launched the biggest project I’ve personally ever taken on, FashionJunkie.com.  To say I’m happy to see that baby live is an understatment and I’m so proud of how it turned out. Dara, the client, had a definite point-of-view and an adventurous spirit; she was great to work with.

I’m updating the portfolio as we speak with some of our latest projects, but we are working on some big changes for the Moxie Girls and Moxie Design Studios. Like, big. Big big.  Exciting stuff, kids! Exciting stuff! All fabulous, but not ready for prime time, so in the meantime, we will be giving ourselves a little interim redesign very soon.  This place could use a new frock.

Next up for me is a couple projects that have been patiently waiting their turn, the last few chapters of the book and whole stack of editing. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!  Don’t forget your sunscreen.

I’ve just returned from a long-overdue vacation to England and I’ll be taking the next few days to respond to the many, many emails that have accumulated in my inbox.  Beginning tomorrow, April 2nd, I will implementing a new policy that unless it is an emergency or we have a planned correspondence, I will only be responding to email at the open and close of business. This will allow me to use my time most effectively during the meat of the day, as it’s easy to get distracted with “little things” and “just-do’s” as we call them.

This month, I’ve got a couple large projects that I’m thrilled to finally roll out: Fashion diva extraordinaire, Dara Fleischer of FashionJunkie.com has a huge redesign and restructuring due to launch mid-April and for mommy guru, Colleen Shields of SurvivalMom.com, we are prepping to launch a hip new “Yahoo! Answers"-style site for surviving motherhood.  These projects have been in the works for 6 months to a year and I’m so excited to see them live.  Also on the docket this month is the project kick-off for another sizable site, ShapingYouth.org.  Add to that a wonderful web project to honor Oklahoma’s centennial celebration and some return client requests and the rest of the book chapters due before we get to the editing phase and this is one busy April!

Speaking of the book, The IT Girls’ Guide to Blogging with Moxie, is coming along swimmingly!  We’re just over half-way through with the first pass of chapters and the rest are coming together like buttah!  We are so happy to be working on this project and are enjoying so much writing a fun book that entertains as well as informs.  The IT Girls’ Guide to Blogging with Moxie by Wiley Publishing is due out this Fall (2007), but should be available for pre-order on Amazon.com within the next month or so, so stay tuned for that.

I’ve recently rolled out two new sites, The Cooking Diva redesign which was completed earlier this month and one for Boise, ID baker, Brandi Baldwin of BrandiBakes.com.  Both are fun, food-related, fanciful designs that I enjoyed working on very much. (Brandi is still making herself at home in her new website, so please excuse any “dust”.) I’ve not had a moment to update our portfolio with these new pieces, but we’re in the process of gutting this site and doing a complete restructure and redesign, so those projects should be represented soon.

March did indeed come in like a lion and after my much, much-needed vacation, has gone out like a lamb.  April welcomes a kinder, gentler, far more relaxed Moxie Girl in me.  I wish you a joyous spring and summer and look forward to working with you soon!