24 Hours in Wintery Downtown Buffalo

 

Last weekend, we went on a little staycation to canalside Buffalo for our oldest son's birthday. It was kind of the perfect Buffalo in winter experience. Our youngest even asked if we could do it all again, but next time for a whole week. (ha)

(PS, my sister took the photo above and if you are eagled-eyed enough you can sort of Where's Waldo me, Matt, and Luke.)

We drove into the city as the sun was setting after a very stressful Bills playoff game. I'm so glad we won - I think the excitement of the evening would have been a little subdued if we hadn't.

It was pretty gorge seeing the sun dipping below the skyline. 

We stayed at a Marriot right in canalside, and barely checked in before we set out for our first excursion - ice skating! Our hotel was central to literally everything...the rink was particularly close. It took us no time to walk over there.

It was suuuper busy - likely because it was basically Saturday night vibes with the extra day off on Monday. Thankfully we all have skates, so we didn't need to go through the hassle of rentals.

I loved the view while we skated - I wish this existed back when Matt and I were dating! Not that we can't have a date night there now, but this would have been so perfect for the early days. We were busy keeping up with kids (my gahhh the way some people fly around on the ice and basically steamroll anyone in their path), but it would have been so nice to just have our own moment there.

It was not a warm night, but we were bundled up pretty well so despite walking around town not exactly being enjoyable, it wasn't terrible. There were some leftovers from the Ice Fest Weekend that had wrapped up earlier that day and we enjoyed checking some of it out. There were some cool ice sculptures up near where Shark Girl is that I would have liked to get closer to, but everyone was pretty cold and hungry after skating!




After a little bit of trying and failing, we ended up at Pearl Street for dinner - which honestly, was better than what we'd had planned, I think. It was so slow - there were very few people there (a first for Pearl Street...I've never been there when it wasn't slammed before) and the food was so good! The kids loved ordering lemonades from the bar, haha.

I got a salted caramel porter that was soooo gooood, split a cup of beer cheese soup with Matt (insane), and had a poached pear salad for dinner that was so big I packed up more than half of it and had it for lunch the next day. It was all top notch.

My birthday kid enjoyed his night...I just cannot get over him being 14. Sigh.

When we got back to the hotel, we were all too full to have the cookie cake I'd made for Luke, so instead, we opted to visit the pool. Nothing like a have-the-place-to-yourselves night swim! The kids had so much fun despite getting sleepy....it was hard to get them out of the pool.

The next morning, I met my sister in the lobby to get some Starbucks. It was such a pretty morning...we had a pretty packed schedule, but I kinda wish I'd had more time to kick back and just take in the view.

After we caffeinated, we walked across the street to Tim Horton's to get some breakfast sandwiches. Which we quickly followed with a a birthday song and cookie cake. And then another trip to the pool.

The kids swam for a bit, and then it was already time to pack things up and check out ahead of the Sabres game. Our hotel was just a couple blocks away from the arena, so after we loaded up the van with our things, we walked down the street for the game. Such a pretty day! It was fun to be in the mix of excited fans again - it had been way too long since my last game!

I fell in love with this sweater in the Sabres store...ugh. Obsessed. It was $105 (gross) so I couldn't charm my way into this one but omg...if anyone sees this go on sale as spring sets in, you must alert me.

Doesn't it just give you chills? The vibe in the arena is everything.

The Sabres didn't show up for us (booo), but we still had so much fun all being there together. My Jake keeps saying he's totally into sports now because of it (lol).

We had such a great weekend! If you want to see it in video form (plus more pictures!), I put it all into a highlight on my Instagram called Buffalo. (If that direct link to the highlight doesn't work, my Instagram is @jenn.rych)

We love you, Buffalo! <3

Current Favorites this Winter

• The Summer I Turned Pretty Playlist
  It's really not the whole thing - I chose my favs from the very long list of songs from the show (there's like 70??) and made my own playlist to listen to while I work. There's a little bit of everything & I love it!
  
  
• Candy Cane Crush Tea
  I got the David's Tea advent calendars this year, along with a few bags of loose tea that I thought sounded good. Needless to say, I've tried a lot of teas lately, and this is the clear winner. It's so good! Creamy, minty, cozy. The best.
  
  
• My Stanley Tumbler
  I get the hype. There's just something about this thing that goes beyond its ability to keep freezing cold water all day (which is the only way I'll drink it). I have the rose quartz one and adore it!
  
  
• Mini Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels
  I randomly spotted these at Target recently and grabbed them for a school snack for my boys and ended up making them a me snack. So yummy! Love the portioned bags, too, so I don't overdo it.
  
  
• Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell
  I still can't get over how incredibly gorgeous this book is. The perfect smoky blue with the bright rainbow, the blue page edges, the purple text inside. It's so beautiful and fun to just visually enjoy, but then the stories themselves - gah, they're so wonderful. She's so good.
  
  
• Cuddly Sweatshirts
  For a long time, I was a hoodie girl - and I sort of still am. But I also really like a big, oversized sweatshirt and the lack of a hood getting in the way. I don't know why buying things in several sizes too big never occurred to me until recent years?? But like...it's the way to go when it comes to sweatshirts and hoodies. I like to swim in them!
  
  
• Winter ASMR Rooms & Bookshop Jazz
  I like to have some background noise when I read, write, or sleep, because silence is too loud for me. I know how weird that sounds, but it's the truth...and I've recently discovered that it's a typical neurodivergent thing. Sometimes it's just a fan going, but jazz music is a perfect background sound when I'm working or reading. Classical is great too, but it gets me more in my emotions (lol) and it influences my work. (Is that weird? Maybe this is weird, haha) Anyway, I usually have a jazz station on Pandora going, or a cozy bookshop jazz video on YouTube. I also love to have beautiful winter scenes on TV
  
  
• The Lazy Dish
  Oh my gosh, my little overwhelmed ADHD heart desperately needed this resource. If you struggle to come up with easy, affordable, picky-kid-friendly meal ideas...you need this site in your life. 

Linking up with Friday Favorites today with Momfessionals & A Little Bit of Everything!

7 Hygge Things To Do This January (plus thoughts on having a focus)

I might be speaking too soon (considering the worst of it usually strikes me in February), but I don't feel my seasonal depression creeping in this year.

I can thank therapy for a lot of that - and, you know, starting an antidepressant and more vitamin D than I ever knew I should be taking. (Spoiler: it's a whole lot.) But I also think it's a bit of renewed purpose and focus.

You know what I kept thinking about after I wrote my last post?

I used to really hype up all these little facets of my life because I was so desperate for direction. I don't know if it's human nature or my ADHD, but I *need* a major focus in my life. One all-consuming thing. That's not to say that I don't still need balance or variety - I do. But without one major driving purpose, I just sort of float around in a sea of too many interests that I'm only 80% in on. When I have a focus, the intentionality of all those other things come into focus.

Does that make sense? 

(This could absolutely be a neurodivergent thing.)

My shop has given me that one purpose - in a way that highlights all the other facets of my life as these beautiful, glittering pieces of joy. It's like I finally baked the cake and now I can add the sprinkles in a beautiful way. Before I just had a big messy tub of sprinkles and I'd spill them constantly.

Weirdly, being more busy, having more work to do has finally highlighted and made the space in my mind and my heart for the things I'm constantly striving to do. 

Each month, as I focus on hygge and my shop and intentionality - on the sprinkles that make up my life while I'm working on perfecting my cake - I want to share a list of the ways I'm sprinkling joy and contentment into my every day.

They're simple - not big, not resolution-y, not unattainable. Just sweet little moments that we can find in these 31 cold days. Want to do them with me?

• Check out this post for some cozy winter decor ideas.
  
  
• Here's a set of different sized snowflake cookie cutters for your cookies.
  
  
• We have some adorable mugs in the shop for your movie night, and this is one of my favorite winter teas - it's perfect for the season!
  
  
• I plan to read this book in January.
  
  
• A spa night for me usually includes a facial, a face mask, and maybe some fresh polish. This is my favorite mask (I mix it with apple cider vinegar) and after-facial moisturizer.
  
  
• New to embroidery? I have some super simple downloadable patterns in the shop! I really like The French Mango, and she has some great beginner tutorials.
  
  
• You can always ask Alexa to play some instrumental jazz, but I love the options on Youtube. Here's a cozy, snowy jazz bookstore one, another one of those, and actually...a third.

Enjoy! xo

This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you! That means if you click through and make a purchase, I will make a small commission. It's really teeny-tiny, but every little bit helps me support this blog! Grateful for you!! xo

New Holiday '22 Books I'm Pumped to Read

 

I know we still have Thanksgiving ahead of us, but I rest firmly on team Thanksgivingmas. I believe in an awesome blending of these holidays into a celebratory season of coziness and beauty and you won't change my mind!

There's a lot going on at my house (we're getting new windows today, and I'm hoping to paint some trim through the week once they're finished), but the tree goes up this coming weekend so I'm ready to talk about Christmas books. If you're not, it's cool - pin this and come back to it later!

Every year I feel like I've read through all the juicy Christmas stories and still want more, and I have to say - this year these authors delivered! There are so many! Will I have time for all of these? Nope. Maybe if I had nothing better to do (I wish!) but I'm going to take down as many as I can and save the rest for next year. Check them out!

^ ^ Pin this to your book or holidays boards! ^ ^
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Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle

This book sounds so adorable! A socialite named Bettie has lost the means to fund her luxurious lifestyle and is hiding out in Colorado for the holidays. Somehow, after a bit too much to drink, she plays a Christmas record backwards, and it casts a spell that brings her a hunky man-spirit that is perfect for playing the role of her fake fiancé. I mean...how ridiculously perfect is that? I want to read this right now!!! It sounds like there's some obvious lesson-learning that goes down (a la A Christmas Carol), as well as the logistics of hanging onto a spirit that you've been developing feelings for, all with a Christmas vibe and I am so here for it!

All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox

This one is straight out of a Hallmark movie - like, I swear I've seen this before and I don't even care because I will never tire of the same story if you dress it up Hallmark-style. Two contestants on a singing competition show cannot stand each other, but somehow have an on-stage chemistry while performing that fans cannot get enough of. The show wants them to not only continue performing together, but to sell it to the audience that they are together. Oh yes, fake dating celebrities? At Christmas time!? Swoon. All in. (PS - I read Maggie Knox's holiday book last year and adored it, so I expect to love this one just the same!)

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss

Wow - this one has a secondhand bookshop, a freaking castle, and a main character named...wait for it... Elinor Noel. There's not a whole lot of holiday-Christmas mentions in the synopsis, but I dunno... there's snow on the cover and mistletoe above their heads, so I'm holding out hope. Our festively named MC attends a reunion with friends from her old private school, she's confronted with an enemy from her past. This is an enemies to lovers story, and sounds like a bit of a grumpy-sunshine mashup, too - so you can probably guess where this goes. I'm excited to find out!

You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky

Oh my gosh. I'm pretty sure this book takes the grinch, sticks it in a Hallmark movie, adds a queer romance, and sprinkles holiday spirit all over it. This sounds like so much fun, I'm obsessed! First we have a spoiled rich kid that gets sent away for the holidays to a small town where his grandparents live. Some of the locals seem as unenthused by him as he is of their town. That is, until he gets roped into pulling together their charity gala. (I mean, how much more Hallmark movie could it get??) I'm pretty sure the holiday cheer of this town slowly melts his unfeeling heart - because of course it does. This is such a fun premise, I can't wait to check it out!

Once Upon a December by Amy E Reichert

I don't know if I'm fully picking up on the premise of this one, but it sounds like Astra is nursing her divorce grief at an annual holiday fair and runs into a hunky guy who only lives his life in Decembers? Like, actually literally, in the sense that time keeps shifting him from one December to the next with nothing in between. (I think?) So there's some clear Hallmark movie level elements with a Christmas fair and a growing romance after heartache, but with some sort of magic element as well. I'm always down for the magical elements in stories, especially Christmas stories because of the holiday's inherent magical nature. Sounds like fun!

There's Something About Merry by Codi Hall

I saw the word sexy in the description of this one so I'm going to take a guess at this one being the steamy-spicy one of the pile. This story takes place on a Christmas tree farm in a town called Mistletoe, and there's an internet romance with an in person blind date situation with crossover between the two so basically yes please, put it on my list. This sounds super indulgent and rom-commy in the best Christmasy way.

Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh

Ah, okay, this has one of my favorite tropes - friends to lovers. Molly and Andrew are long standing friends with a decade long tradition of traveling to Ireland for the holidays. This year, a snow storm has them stuck in America, but Molly wants her very Christmas - minded best friend to get what he wants most and make it to Ireland despite the weather. She comes up with a plan to get them there, which of course has its hurdles. This sounds like a really fun adventure with travel hijinks, holiday vibes, and best friends finally considering the possibility that they could be something more to each other. This sounds like so much fun, I can't wait to read it!

So This is Christmas by Jenny Holiday

This one is actually the third in a series. I've read the first one (and found it super cute), but I didn't read the second one. I'm not sure how imperative it is that I read that before I get to this one? But this story, obviously centered around the holidays, is another royally-inspired book. I am a sucker for this trope - the average girl falling for the prince (or you know, any sort of normie-royalty pairing). This book in the series actually focuses on the King's advisor rather than an actual member of royalty, and an American management consultant that was brought into help get the King's affairs in order. The story takes place in the kingdom of Eldovia, and the pair are tasked with making it shine for the holidays while trying not to fall in love in the process. Sounds perfect to me!

The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park

Want to spend Christmas at the mall? You can with this story, that sounds so adorable! Rival families that own competing restaurants in the mall's food court clash even further when the teens from these families get holiday jobs in other parts of the mall. Chloe is a photographer for Santa Land, and Peter works at the VR experience featuring a virtual North Pole. Things between them start out expectedly hostile, but when they find out that the mall is being sold to condo developers and both of their families' businesses are on the line, they have to come together to help find a solution. I love the nostalgia of this premise - malls have been going the way of the dinosaurs for a while now, but growing up, it didn't feel like Christmas until we wandered around the decorated mall with peppermint coffee, seeing that Santa was available for photos. I'm super excited to revisit that experience in this book!

What's wild is that there are so many more to check out this year! These are the ones that excite me the most, but there are still lots of other great titles to check out. Some of them being: Whiteout, A Merry Little Meet Cute, The Christmas Wish, In the Event of Love, The Holiday Trap, One Last Gift, and Talk Santa to Me. 

That's not an exhaustive list - there's just so many this year! Let me know which one you're most excited to check out, I can't decide where to start!

All book cover photos are sourced from and belong to Amazon. This post contains Amazon affiliate links at no cost to you. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may make a small commission from Amazon that will add nothing to your order! It's teeny tiny, but every little bit helps me run this blog! Thank you so much for your support!! xo