Look!  Our very own Joelle was interviewed for a great article in Entrepreneur Magazine this month called “8 Tips for Working With Web Designers: Get exactly what you want for your business’s website — on time and on budget”.  The article, written by Johnathon Williams offers some great tips for anyone looking for the right designer and gives you a better idea of what to expect when starting out.  Joelle lends her experience and savvy to the list of tips, including some insight on how a new project starts.  Check it out at Entrepreneur.com! 

It’s not a secret that Joelle’s creative talents flow abundantly from the portfolio, but apparently it’s being noticed in more places than one.  The writers at Six Revisions did a piece recently called 30 Creative Illustrative Website Headers in which they highlighted the use of illustration in a website design for their Design Showcase/Inspiration Topic this week..  They showcased 30 amazing sites using illustration as a focal point and Joelle’s work popped up THREE times in the list.  Her web stylings from Fashion Junkie, Brandi Bakes and Cheestique - three gorgeous websites done by our very own, the lovely and talented Joelle were featured on their list.

It’s nice to see her talents getting recognized!  Check out the whole article on Six Revisions. Woohoo!

For those who don’t know, my best friend and co-Moxie Girl, Kathy, is the brains and beauty behind the very popular child safety site for parents, SafeMama.  She also is the founder of it’s sister site, Lovely SafeMama, which provides eco-friendly beauty and personal care items for women, moms specifically.  This week, Kathy was featured on TodaysMama.com’ South Florida Mama “Dream Big” section. Yay, Kathy!

How did you accomplish [your big dream]?
A little bit of luck, some unforeseen circumstances and hard work. I was working at a big fancy consulting firm and was laid off right before 9/11. I knew it was my chance to pursue what I really loved. I started my own business designing websites that year and have been a self-employed entrepreneur ever since. I don’t regret that decision for a second. Now I am the co-owner of a popular design company Moxie Design Studios, a published author (I co-wrote The IT Girls Guide to Blogging with Moxie with my business partner Joelle Reeder) and the Editor of SafeMama.com and LovelySafeMama.com.

Read the whole interview here — hurry before it’s gone!

For those who don’t know, Kathy is the founder and editor of SafeMama.com, along with her general fabulousness here at Moxie. She was recently published on HealthyChild.org with an article about becoming a “green” mom and living a healthier, eco-friendly lifestyle.

It’s a really well-written article — I’m very proud!  I grumbled when I discovered my favorite conditioner could give me a tumor (ok, maybe a *little* tumor… a tumorlette, perhaps), but Kathy’s foray into green living for her family has impacted me as well. I pay more attention to those sorts of things and think, “WWKD?”    (She might throw something non-toxic at me for that.)

As I am currently bambino-free, I tend to frequent Safemama’s sister site, Lovely SafeMama, which features eco-friendly, health-conscious, natural beauty products.  So I better go find another conditioner…

Read Kathy’s article here!

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! 

We certainly had a good time at SXSW Interactive this year. We had an opportunity to chat and network with many of our colleagues, as well a chance to promote our book, The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie. Our reading went very well and the signing was such a great chance to meet new people and put some faces to the many names we encounter online.

We also had a chance to meet the team at Ellis Lab, the folks behind our favorite content management system, Expression Engine.  They are such a wonderful group of people and while we loved EE before, seeing what they have in store for their new release of Expression Engine and how passionate they are about their product and their users makes us want to become EEvangelists!

Our interview with BlogTalk Radio went smashingly!  We really enjoyed chatting with John Haven and look forward to working with BlogTalk Radio again soon.  You can listen to our interview by clicking that little player or following this link.

We’re starting to review the very beautiful flutter of questionnaires we received in late January and throughout February.  Kathy and I will respond in the order in which they were received and will do our best to get back to you as quickly as we can.  Kathy’s been feeling under the weather lately, so please be gentle.    We appreciate your patience!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and a Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

It’s that time of year when the bell-ringers are out, the smell of pine trees fills the air and people will cut you for the last Thomas the Train, but it’s also a time for giving. And we think you should give Blogging with Moxie for the holidays this year.  We’re very subtle like that. 

We also have some great announcements!  We’ve received wonderful reviews on Amazon and the book has been doing steadily well!  The fine folks at Expression Engine offered up an adorable video review for their readers and several bloggers have shared their thoughts both on Amazon and on their personal blogs.  Our publicist CJ has also beenbusily pimping us (we love her!) and on December 19th in the evening, Kathy and I will be appearing on the Derek & Romaine Show on Sirius Channel 109.  Tune in and listen!  We’ll also try to get a transcript or a recording of the interview to post here, as well.

HOLIDAY HOURS: For the holidays and because we are working diligently to roll out many new internal projects we’ve been working on before the New Year, we will be CLOSED from December 19th - January 2nd. We really need these two weeks for administrative and year-end wrap-up, and like you, we wish to spend time with our loved ones for the holidays. We appreciate your consideration and will respond to inquires sent during that time on our return in the order in which they were received.

We are booking for the first quarter of 2008 right now and we’re wading through a stack of inquiries that came in over the last week or so. January is almost booked solid for me, though Kathy may still have some openings. We will also be out of the office March 6-10 for SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX. — just a heads up. Our schedules fill up fast and we are doing our best to respond to all of the requests in our inbox as quickly as possible.    We didn’t forget you!

If you are interested in having us design your blog or small business website, please fill out a Design Questionnaire. If you submit a request for a quote without completing a questionnaire, you will just receive an email from us asking you to please fill it out, so if you’re serious about working with us, please take a few moments to fill that out… yes, even the bit about the budget and timeline. Thanks!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and joyous holiday season.