Are you there, Moxie? It’s me, Summer.

So, it’s Summertime, which always makes for an interesting time of year for business. Clients are often out of town, we try to take some time off, as well and if there are any monkey wrenches thrown earlier in the year, Summer can be a great time to catch up on projects that may have run long, for whatever reason.  This year, it all seemed to pile up around the annual BlogHer conference, which is the weekend of August 6th in San Diego.

We’re not technically attending this year—Kathy’s eldest son starts school that week and I have my 20 year reunion that weekend. (I’m not sure when I got so old. I feel like I was just sporting my Guess denim miniskirt, and slouch socks yesterday.)  But since my 20 year reunion is in my hometown of San Diego, I will be in town that weekend, and may get a chance to meet up with a colleague, friend or client or two. Hopefully!  It’s also my boyfriend’s 43rd birthday that weekend, so we’ll likely crash the Marriott lobby Saturday night and hope to run into people we know. I’m not above this.

So here’s a little highlight of what we’ve got going on over here and what’s coming down the pipe:

• We’ll be launching a new site for Giant Fire Breathing Robot over the next week, which we’re really proud about. All you geeks and gamers out there, check them out when you get a chance. We’ll announce the official launch on our Twitter account.
• We’re also almost finished with the development on a major overhaul to Pawcurious, which we’re super excited about. We designed their site a few years ago and they’ve continued to grow. Dr. V was selected as BlogHer ‘11 Voice of the Year, too. Yay, Jessica!
• If you’re into romance and snark, our favorite Smart Bitches are also in development on their new site, which brings 94% more bitch.

In totally new sites, we’ve got a fabulous Fort Worth boutique spa, an adorable super-kitsch Fayetteville, GA salon, a fabulous beauty site for women of color and an Alexandria, VA wine and cigar shop all launching in early Fall.

As mentioned, I will be out of the office for my reunion and the like and will be mostly unavailable August 5th - August 12th (I’ll be checking email for emergencies.). I’ll be back in the office on Monday, August 15th, ready to launch sites and take names. Or something like that.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful, safe, SPF and A/C-laden summer filled with watermelon and margaritas.

---

Sail Away with Me, Honey

Ok, so there’s no actual sailing, but I am going to a place with a lot of sailboats.  I’ll be out of the office Monday, May 23rd and will be back in the office on Monday, May 30th.  I realize that the 30th is Memorial Day, but it’s an ideal day for me to catch up on emails received while I was out of the office, as most of you fine folks will be off enjoying hot dogs and beer and sunshine.

I’m actually going to San Diego to squeeze the last juice out of my medical insurance lemon before I have to change my California coverage to Nevada, but I thought I’d take the opportunity to grab an extra day or two of glorious humidity. I never thought, as someone with naturally curly hair, that I’d be coveting humidity, but Las Vegas is dry, my friends. That’s the desert for you.

If it’s “the sky is falling, drop everything, aliens have attacked and they’ve abducted my website” kind of urgent, I will respond as soon as possible, as I will be available via email, but otherwise, I’ll reply to your inquiries on my return.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend (in advance)!

---

What’s the Dealio, Yo?

We’re very cool and hip with the kids. Can you tell by our title? Word. :)

Things have been, as usual, super busy around these parts. We’ve not updated our blog or our portfolio here in quite some time because we’re in the process of revamping this site. It’s long overdue and this being our 8th year in business, we figured it was a good time. The new site should be online within the next month or so, but we naturally have to put our client projects first… and we certainly have!

We recently launched some new sites, including a huge redesign and redevelopment for bestselling author, Jennifer Chiaverini.  Jennifer had us design her first website in 2005 and returned last year to start work on a new look to coincide with the release of her newest book, The Union Quilters. I always enjoy working with Jennifer and this time, her project was challenging and rewarding.  It was a large project, as her site contains information for over 23 books and has almost 30,000 members!  We created a lot of new features, including a private, members-only Readers’ Circle community where users have personal profiles and can create discussion groups—especially great for book clubs.  If you’re into quilting and haven’t read any of Jennifer’s books, I encourage you to check them out!

Speaking of handcrafted items, we also recently launched a redesign for a Richmond, Virginia yarn shop called The Yarn Lounge.  We took her site from a handful of static pages into Expression Engine to create a dynamic website that Stewart, the owner, or her staff can manage on their own. While Expression Engine does, of course, allow for blogging, The Yarn Lounge had a considerable following within Blogger and it was an environment the client and staff were comfortable posting in, so after some discussion, we decided to keep The Yarn Lounge blog in Blogger, styling it to match her primary business website. Stewart was great to work with and their shop seems really comfortable and inviting.

I don’t knit, but someday, I’ll make a trip to that area so I can meet all my VA/DC clients—I have 10 from that area alone. Mostly fabulous yarn shops (like Fibrespace, Looped Yarn Works and of course, The Yarn Lounge), but also some cheese and wine businesses, too. (Mmmm, cheese….) Thanks for your referrals, Richmond, Alexandria and D.C.!

We have a whole slew of sites launching over the couple months, including a redesign for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, a business site for a beautiful new spa in Fort Worth, Texas, a podcast and small business site for some fabulous fitness divas, a vintage craft shop, a business site for some lovely Florida attorneys, a redesign for the adorable Dr. V over at Pawcurious, a podcast for a popular relationship expert, and a unique beauty site for a niche audience.

(This is the part where we flop dramatically on a chaise, ask for mint juleps and fan ourselves like we’re in Gone with the Wind.)

In other news, we’re booking for Summer now—our Spring dance cards are beyond full and Summer will fill quickly, so if you’re interested in working together in 2011, please take a moment to fill out our Request for Proposal form as thoroughly as possible. We’re only able to take a limited amount of projects, but we’d love to learn more about yours!

Kathy and I are grateful for all the wonderful new and return business we’ve received this year (and every year). Thanks for choosing (or considering!) Moxie Design Studios for your web presence. We appreciate it and look forward to working with you soon!

---

Vegas Staycation

Just a quick note that I’ll be out of the office starting in the afternoon on Thursday Feb 24th through Tuesday, March 1. I’ll be back on Wednesday, March 2nd, ready to rock n’ roll, but am looking forward to a long weekend with friends here in Las Vegas to recharge my creative batteries and refresh my spirit, so I can continue to bring my A-game to my clients. I will reply to your emails if it’s truly urgent, but if the sky isn’t falling, I’ll reply on Wednesday, March 2nd.

Kathy should be around, so if there is an emergency (i.e., your site has been hacked, we’re being invaded by aliens, that sort of thing), you can drop her an email, but she’s got two small children and is only available part time, so please be patient.  But let’s assume we won’t be invaded by aliens, shall we?

I’m super excited for the coming months and all the wonderful websites it will bring to life and new ventures it holds. Catch you on the flip side!

---

Of Rabbits and Requests…

Maybe it’s the Year of the Rabbit, maybe it’s just because we’re just that awesome (heh), but we are hoppin’ busy with some wonderful projects. We’re still wrapping up some more elaborate projects from 2010, starting new projects for 2011, and have a few proposals in negotiation, so as of now, we’re booked solid until April.

Since Kathy is raising two beautiful boys, she’s only able to take on design work part time, so that limits the amount of projects we can take each season. My schedule fills up quickly, as well, and I’m working on a big non-client-related project that I’m not allowed to talk about until its launch is imminent. It’s a book! It’s a website! It’s a TV show! It’s… it’s… it’s… maybe it’s something else entirely. I legally not allowed to tell you, so… you’ll just have to wait. :) It’s exciting, though!

An aside, Kathy’s been having some weirdness with her outgoing email not reaching people. If you’ve put in a request for a proposal and never heard back, drop us a line via our contact form. It’s likely that we did reply within a day or two, but it may have drifted off into the Internet ether. We don’t see any obvious problems with our email set-up and her email is working fine for most folks, but it’s worth mentioning, so please let us know.

We appreciate your patience with our schedules. We’d love to work with you and hear more about your project! So if you’re interested in working with us this year, please get your Requests for Proposal in, let us know which designer you’d like to work with and we’ll set up a time to chat. I’m quite talented at chatting. Ask my freshman English teacher who used to bust me for talking in class.

(Photo is of my bunny, Lulu. She thinks she’s famous.)

---

« Newer Posts Older Posts »