Welcome to the Fisiz!
Howdy, friends!
Or should we say, SURPRISE!
Welcome to Fisiz.
We have so much to tell and show you that we figured a reliable way to approach this complete brand overhaul is to start at the beginning.
But! Before we begin……we have a question:
Do you ever get that interior feeling of restlessness?
Like something in your life is not quite right. Like maybe it’s time for a challenge? Three years ago, that feeling of restlessness hit us while we were on vacation with family at Table Rock Lake. That sunshine, the water rushing by the boat with foam and ripples. . . maybe we felt safe enough to let the need for change bubble up.
We had just published our cookbook, “Modern Comfort Cooking” and we had been blogging for almost 10 years. We loved it! Cooking and picture-snapping and eating and friends! Yet, we had been itchy enough to contact a branding agency about “maybe a new name for our blog.”
That day at Table Rock Lake, we received a phone call from the Gardner Design with a possible new name for the blog. We sorta’ freaked out. Let us tell you, naming our first business, having it be fairly successful. . . it was a scary thought to consider changing it.
It struck us that a change had to be more than just changing a name. We needed to create a new and expanded blog; something that would give us and our readers – more heart, more thought, more real-life value. Our mind zoomed ahead.
And then. . . our desire for change met up with the real world.
We lived in a tiny house in Denver that we could barely turn around in. So, in the summer of 2018, after that Table Rock Lake trip, we were scrolling Zillow for fun. We were just curious as to what was out there in the Denver housing market.
Our curiosity led us to find an old house, on a big corner lot in a wonderful neighborhood in Denver. Twelve blocks from the house we lived in. And, the house was CHEAP for Denver real estate. So, instead of working on that blog name change, we moved, with Mr. B and Juniper into a fantastic old house that needed work.
We tore out the entire upstairs, leaving one guest bedroom for us to sleep in. Mr. B began installing heat and air-conditioning by himself, tiling a shower, and install all new flooring. And then, in January of 2019, we became pregnant with Charlie!
We decided we wasn’t emotionally ready to overhaul our blog and business. If we were going to change our decade-old brand, we wanted to be present.
We thought after Charlie was born we could give some thought to how to change and update our brand. We completely underestimated the work of being a new mom! Trying to be creative when you are sleep-deprived is not ideal. So we tabled the name change again.
No one tells you that you can be craving a change and yet life keeps bumping up against you, even with good things, that draw you away. Let’s just say ‘change is strange’. It has its own time table.
And then change got strange.
The Pandemic of 2020 arrived, and like everybody else, we had to make other plans. We took each day and tried to find something positive. One of our favorite things we did during the height of the Pandemic was to take a morning walk around the neighborhood and listen to “The Science of Success” podcast.
We will never forget the episode we listened to with Michael Bungay Stanier, author of “The Coaching Habit” and “Advice Trap.” He went into depth about how curiosity is our greatest superpower.
Michael works with people and asks:
“What’s on your mind?”
“And what else?”
“And what’s the real challenge here for you?”
These questions encourage people to self-reflect, and to take the time to be curious about their own lives. And when we give ourselves space and time to be truly curious, we become mindful, more humble, and we begin to have more empathy for ourselves and others.
This was a lightning strikes moment for us. We remember shouting on our walk, “THIS IS IT!” On that walk, we came full circle on what Fisiz was meant to be. It wasn’t just a name change; it was a new way of thinking.
Our mission for Fisiz was to empower individuals to be more curious.
We wanted to take our trials and mishaps in the kitchen, our travels across the world, a cookbook, a kid, a bulldog, marriage of fifteen years and show how we've used curiosity to grow as a person. We will continue to be curious about our own life and encourage you to be curious about yours.
We have found:
- You can teach yourself anything
- Taking risks is almost always valuable
- Boldly following your sense of wonder will pay dividends
- There is no thrill like creating something from nothing
So, after three years in the making, that’s why we are evolving Climbing Grier Mountain into Fisiz, which we believes best represents this sense of wonder that continues to fuel us to keep creating and keep learning.
And now for the rest of the story…
What does Fisiz look like moving forward?
First and foremost, the content around here won’t do a somersault change, but it will become deeper and more elevated. Our recipes will still focus on making simple, tasty, comforting food!
We will also be sprinkling in more story content that feeds the entrepreneurial spirit and empowers the curious mind. We promise this journey will FEED YOUR CURIOSITY.
Okay, let’s take a speedy tour of the new website. . .
We have a whole new homepage! We wanted you to be able to easily access recipes, travel recaps, entrepreneurial posts, and motherhood stories.
A cool new feature is the sort functionality. With this, you can filter the exact recipe you need. Whether it’s by Diet, Cooking Method, or By Season, it’s all customizable and simple to find!
Something new to Fisiz family is the Merchandise Shop! The Stay Curious Collection is a collection of tees and hoodies, home goods, tote bags, and cool wall art that will inspire your curious mind!
Alright, take a look around! Let us know if you have any questions. Thrilled to have on this new journey with us!
Love and Curious Cooking,
Fisiz
