Hi!

How are ya?

Good, I hope!

I'm Jenn - a proud resident of the amazing Buffalo, NY region, where I've been cultivating a warm and cozy home for my family.

My husband, who you may see me mention here and there, is Matt.

Together we have three boys (14, 11, and 9), the sweetest dog in town (Galli), and two slightly unhinged cats (Arya & Kaiju) who are littermates. All our babes are rescues! Well, except for the human ones.

We all live in a cozy (read: V small) brick ranch that I try my darndest to make cute and inviting, whose most redeeming quality is the acre of wooded land it rests on. We call our cute little suburban homestead The Crooked Apple. (Click on that post, you'll see why!)

As an elder millennial who has been blogging for over two decades, I've kind of seen and done it all in the blog world!

Once upon a time (back in 2011) this blog was a hub for an online book club.

In 2020, it became a place to chronicle the weirdness of life and a personal writing journey. And eventually it morphed into a lifestyle blog, heavy on the clothes and books.

And now? Well in 2023, it's become my place to share my process of moving my life to a more intentional, slow, more sustainable way of living.

As someone who was born around the same time as the internet and grew up on fruit roll ups, Mariah Carey ballads, and collecting little cardboard circles to trade with my friends (what the heck were pogs, though, for real?), I often find myself sort of straddling two worlds.

One where I had a taste of the simple life - socializing without phones, playing tag in the streets, knowing when it was time to go home based on the whistles of the fire stations. The other where I can accurately recall the sound of a dial-up modem connecting to the internet with a stack of AOL CD's sitting next to me, fingers poised on the keyboard to make my AIM profile colorful and angsty.

That duality has followed me into adulthood. I'm a walking contradiction in most things! And I think most members of our generation feel the same.

Sometimes I want to wear a pretty dress and bake some bread from scratch and catalog the birds outside my window while I plan my next homegrown, in-season healthy meal. And sometimes I want to listen to gangster rap and bum around the house in a tie dye shirt that's three sizes too big while I eat things covered in fake powdered cheese.

If you feel the same.....you came to the right place.

Here on the blog, my goals are to embrace and share things that are easy, economical, or environmental (ideally, all three at the same time!) without compromising who we are and what we love. We can enjoy some sugar and some designer brand names, while taking our time and doing things a little more Earth-friendly at the same time, ya know? We can do both!

I'm learning right along with you - how to embrace both sides of the coin, making smart (and fairer) choices while not having to give up on beauty or everyday luxuries.

My posts focus on thrift shopping and secondhand fashion, gardening and flowers, homemaking, DIY, seasonal projects, books, nature, and more! I also love to sprinkle in little local moments from all the beauty and fun we have here in Buffalo. Where else would you rather be??

Here are some miscellaneous minor details that may or may not interest you:

I'm a Virgo Sun, Scorpio Moon, Sagittarius Rising with my North Node in Gemini in my 5th house. (You can see all of my personality types here.)
I drink...a lot of coffee. Like, a lot.
I love clothes and shopping to probably a "problem" level. Especially thrifting.
Raspberries are my favorite fruit, but they sometimes give me a headache so....it's torture.
I'm a novice yogi.
I have an Associates in Humanities & Social Sciences and a Teaching Assistant Certification and I do nothing with them. Whoopsie.
Chardonnay is my adult beverage of choice. Key Lime LaCroix is my non-adult choice.
I drive a mini-van and I love it, get over it.
I'm obsessed with color, birds, basically anything that grows, animals, and my kids.
I hate the numbers 13 and 6 and will do weird things to avoid seeing them or any combination of them.
I believe that if you're going to spend the calories on something naughty, it better involve chocolate.
I have ADHD and GAD and I navigate them through therapy and the occasional ramble here on the blog or Instagram.
I study Spanish just for funsies.
I try really, really hard not to take life too seriously.

Need to reach me?

Email me at JennRych@gmail(dot)com

Find me on IG @jenn.rych and @jennsbookshelf

Pin with me @jennrych

Like me on FB @jennrychblog

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Disclosure Statement

Jenn Rych Blog is a PR-friendly blog. For information on partnership, please contact Jenn via email at JennRych at gmail dot com.

This policy is valid from 1 January 2019

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by Jenn Rych. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is sometimes compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog occasionally receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.