Welcome to my new home!

  Hi! I'm Marian Vischer and this is my new blog. {Insert pinching myself.} Do you know how long I've waited to type those words? Years. I can't even begin this post without crying. This new space is a dream come true. First things first. I cannot write another line without thanking the sweet, creative, generous friend who's made it happen. Her name is Kindel and she is all kinds of awesome. She blogs at Willow White Studios. {Check out the fun 31 Days of Free Printables she did in October.} I've known Kindel since she was a college student and I loved her from the start. Plus she has put up with me and my picky ways. She pretends like working with me has been this easy, lovely process but we both know the truth. I'm very particular. I know what I want except for when I don't. I suffer from "decision-making anxiety." I'm useless without a deadline. I would hate working for me. This new space was supposed to happen a couple of different times over the last few years and each time it fell through. I like to think it's because Kindel and I were destined to do this together. So let me show you around! This is like most any new home. It's shiny and awesome and mostly finished. But like a random piece of moulding that hasn't been nailed down or wires still hanging from where the light fixture has yet to be installed, my new home still has a few projects waiting in the corners. It'll probably be a month or so before we get all the right links in place and fix photos and formatting that are wonky. But we just couldn't wait any longer. At the top you'll see a row of the must-have's. Home, About Me, Archives {all pretty and nicely categorized}, Favorite Posts, Booklists, and how you can connect via social media or e-mail. Regarding the archives, some of my categories are changing and we still have to align all of my posts into their new labels. For now you can still find specific posts by clicking back to the labels a la mode or you can search for them in the search bar here. A la mode will stay up and running until we get all the bugs worked out here. Moving on down, behold the header. Kindel made this blush beauty. {I must be a lifelong fan of blush because my bridesmaids dressers were that same color 18 years ago.}

There on the right is my new profile photo that I took all by my big self. It's a ridiculous story and I already have a post coming up about how to do a DIY photo shoot, inspired by my own crazy shenanigans. Behind the scenes of that pretty little picture, things were nothing but a hot mess. I'll save the details for later but let me just say that there are photos forthcoming in which I am wearing a chartreuse shirt and sporting pale winter skin and not a stitch of make-up. You cannot even tell that I have lips anywhere on my face. Also? My tripod involved a cardboard toilet paper roll. Below the profile pic is one of my favorite surprises that Kindel whipped up. It looks like a row of quiet, unassuming social media icons. But move your cursor and hover over one of them. Go ahead, I'll wait. Surprise splashes of watercolored goodness hiding beneath! It's the little things that make me giddy. About social media, I now have a Facebook page for the new blog. You can also follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, and Bloglovin too. {Bloglovin is the heart icon. It's my favorite way to read blogs.} You might be wondering where an Instagram icon is. I love Instagram but it's one form of social media I've chosen to keep private and tucked away. Just beneath those sneaky watercolored buttons are the different series I've written. Click on one and it will take you to all the posts in the series. Some of them still link back to the original posts at a la mode but you're not missing out. The content is all the same. We're working on getting all of our links transferred soon. Perhaps the biggest question of all is: Why Marian Vischer? For over 5 years I blogged as "Scooper" and was sort of anonymous like that. Talk about extremes. Hi world! I'm no longer a fake name and while I'm at it, how about I just go ahead and name my new blog after my big ol' non-anonymous self? Here. I. Am.  It feels simultaneously right and awkward. I chose it because it's my name and that won't change. I also chose it because it provides a platform and flexibility if I pursue future endeavors as a writer. I was Scooper at a la mode for five and a half years and I'll always love it. But I no longer wanted to be a la mode: a little scoop for every slice of life. I didn't want to become tired of a phrase or have to worry about it no longer representing the content. So we {my husband and I} finally came around to using my name. We thought about it, prayed about it, and dialogued for months. It's no small thing to put your real name out there as a dot com. At least it wasn't to us. We wanted to be wise and sure. Names are handy. Names work as an umbrella for all sorts of topics and projects. But they can also be original and specific. I think I'm the only Marian Vischer? Or at least the only one who wanted marianvischer.com. And if you're wondering, yes, it feels weird and narcissistic to have my name as a web-site even though lots of people do it. If you'd like to know more about me or what "Writing the Real" is all about, here's my brand new About Me page. {Yep, that feels narcissistic too. Hey everyone! Here's my new blog with my name so that it's all about me and oh, if you want to know even more about me, click on About Me and also you can follow ME on social media and do you like that huge picture of Me at the top of this post right beside a smaller picture of Me?} I am already sick of myself. {And for the record, I don't ever look as put together as those photos of there. Just ask my family, neighbors, or the friendly baristas at the local Starbucks who literally don't recognize me if I'm not in a sweaty running hat and exercise pants. To prove it I will be soon be posting photos of the chartreuse lip-less nightmare.} But in case you're not sick of me, you can subscribe to the blog via e-mail up there in the top right corner. That way you'll never miss a post. And of course, you can click on those cute little social media buttons again because they're so pretty. Thanks for letting me ramble on about my new digs. I'm so glad you're here. Oh and one more thing! We're still deciding how we want to do comments. For now, scroll back up to the title of this post and click on comments if you'd like to leave one. Okay, that's all. Thanks for visiting my new home!