Or put them down, actually. It’s been a long, long time coming, but Put Down the Donut is back online!  Hooray! Parade! Confetti! Etc!

For those not familiar with Put Down the Donut, it’s a blog I started back in 2003, along with Kathy, to look at weight loss in an honest, candid, and humorous, no-sugar-coating kind of way. We shared recipes, talked a lot of Weight Watchers, reviewed fitness products and overall, had a really great time!  We garnered a growing following, were nominated for a Bloggie (2004, Best Group Weblog) and were even mentioned in national publication, Lifetime Magazine for Women (like the channel).

Well, after many, many requests and finally carving out the time to make it happen, The Donut, as it’s affectionately called, is BACK!  This time, we’ve got a new spin on things, but will have the same great content.  I’m still working on pulling the archives in — it’s a mighty task, but for now, we’re rolling things out with fresh posts written my yours truly, my partner-in-crime Kathy and some fabulous new contributors to be announced soon.

Hope to see you around!

The Get Moxie Giveaway we all conjured up for this years Boobie-Thon, which includes a blog design from us, The Moxie Girls™, as well as a fabulous custom illustration from our friend Cynthia Frenette at Green Couch Designs has come to an end.  We’d like to congratulate Nikki at EagleDawg for picking up the prize with her donation! 

The Boobie-Thon raised over $13,000 this year and we were glad to be part of the excitement.  A big thanks to Mel at EmTwo Web Studios who is the Chief Boobie Officer running the show and to all the volunteers who dnated their time to run the event.  What a smashing success! 

Thank you all for donating to a great cause, for supporting the Boobie-Thon and for entering the giveaway!

The Boobiethon is almost over, but you still have several hours left today to donate! We've partnered up with Boobiethon to offer a Moxie prize pack!

Here is what one lucky participant will win -

You will work via email with your chosen designer—either Joelle Reeder or Kathy Scoleri, The Moxie Girls™ of Moxie Design Studios™—to come up with a design that’s created just for your blog! (One round of revisions is included on your blog mock-up.)

Your blog design also includes a Custom illustration by the incomparable Cynthia Frenette of Green Couch Designs! Your illustration will be unique and created based on your design requests. No redistribution or resale is permitted. (One round of revisions is included on your illustration.)

A signed copy of “The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie” by Joelle Reeder and Kathy Scoleri, The Moxie Girls™ is also included.

How to Enter:

All you have to do is add the note “Get Moxie” when donating $20.00 or more - this is a must! A winner will be chosen on October 8, 2009 by random draw and notified via email. (so please double check your email address) That person will have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be chosen.

Want extra entries? Of course you do!

Blog and/or Tweet about this giveaway!! Make sure you use hashtag #boobiethon #getmoxie in your tweet! You also must return here and leave a linking comment to earn your extra entry. (only one extra entry per donation)

You have until 11:59pm EDT tonight to make your donation and don't forget to include the words "get moxie" or your donation may not make it into the drawing and we wouldn't want that!

We hope you'll participate! If you've wanted one of our designs in the past, now is your chance to get one while supporting a wonderful cause. Save the Boobies... and tell a friend!

Recently at Target, I noticed some dolls very similar to Bratz dolls on an end-cap of the toy department called, you guessed it, Moxie Girlz™.  My first instinct was to cry “RAWR!  COPYRIGHT!” and point a lot, but we’re not in the same industry, nor are we spelled the same, so I guess my only course of action (for now) is to buy some that look like us (Lexa for me, and Avery for Kathy) and swallow that lump of “Back off, man!” in my throat.

I’m not a fan of Bratz dolls… it’s no secret. I think teaching our kids to dress like hoochies and want (even more) for materialistic stuff like trendy clothes, make-up and jewelry before they’ve even gotten a training bra is… well, it sucks, in my opinion.  Scrape your knees, wait until you’re 11 or 12 to shave your legs and leave the lip gloss to the middle schoolers.  But I remember what it’s like — my dad wouldn’t even let me wear colored nail polish until I was in 8th grade. Besides, I played with Barbies and it’s not like she was Amish with her pink dream car and that big ol’ house, plus between shopping trips, she made a good beard for Ken.

It appears that Moxie Girlz, despite their “z” and visual similarities to Bratz are sporting a different angle: Be True, Be You!  This motto, from their website:

Every girl has the strength to do something amazing. Anything is possible as long as you stay true to yourself and never give up on your dreams.

It’s nice to see self-confidence and courage being promoted among young girls, with less emphasis on the superficial. Sure, they still make it cute and go for the sparkle — what girl doesn’t love that? (We love bling!) But it’s backed up by a positive message and that we’re down with.  So for now, The Moxie Girls™ embrace the Moxie Girlz™!

Now, if only they’d thought to have us do their website… Hint, hint.

It’s been a craaaazy busy summer around here.  Kathy’s been summering in Mama Town, USA, after welcoming wee Carter into the world on July 13th.  And I’ve been furiously launching project after project, with no time to actually update the portfolio!  There must be 10 projects plus that need to be added. We’ve done a lot of awesome sites so far this year and I’m very proud of the designs we’ve done, so keep your eyes peeled for those!  We’re also going to be rolling out a new design for our site with a lot of new features in the coming months, hoping for an official launch by our 7th anniversary (yes, seventh!) on Valentine’s Day ‘10.  It could be earlier, but it’s looking like it’ll be a very busy Fall and Kathy’s still successfully working on her second degree as a professional baby juggler.

Speaking of design…

Fabulous retro-inspired illustrator and the man behind our gorgeous Moxie Girls characters, Derek Yaniger, has some new serigraphs available that are the bees knees!  I’ve purchased his art before (I have number 3/100 of the sold-out Three Mad Cats hanging in my living room) and it’s even more beautiful in person than I expected.

Of his new releases are my two favorites: “Crazy” and “Daddy-o Goose’s Real Gone Rhyme”, which I’m thinking about buying as they are a “very limited edition” and you get 4 beautiful prints to hang together or mix it up by hanging them in different places.  If Derek keeps creating awesome art, I’m going to have it on every wall!

If you’re into coffee table books, Derek has his first book available now — “Wildsville: The Art of Derek Yaniger (Masters of Lowbrow)”, which contains over 150 original paintings and illustrations. Cover-to-cover coolsville, ya dig?

“Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile.” — William Cullen Bryant

Well, our Fall season is almost here!  Our Summer season is coming to a close and we’re wrapping up the last of the projects through the end of September and are looking to start our new projects beginning in early October for completion by the 1st week of December. (We need to take some time off in December for administrative stuff and time with our friends and family for the holidays.)

We are accepting requests for the Fall season at this time, so if you have not already submitted your Request for Proposal, please do so by midnight on September 1st, as we will begin reviewing requests on September 2nd. On September 1st, we will be emailing anyone who we were unable accommodate this Summer first and responding to all remaining inquires in the order in which they were received. From there, we will begin contacting you so we can set up phone meetings to discuss your project in more detail. 

NOTE: If you get your request in after September 1st, chances of us being able to get your project in for Fall are very slim. You would be put on the waiting list for our Winter season, which begins January ‘10 (project review starting December 2nd). Thank you!

While we did receive quite a few inquiries this Summer, not every request we receive will be a fit, so don’t be discouraged if our waiting list seems a lil’ longer than you’d like — there’s still an opportunity for us to work with you this Fall and we’d love to hear about your project.

Enjoy the rest of your Summer and we hope to work with you soon!