The Arch - St. Louis, Missouri

I really took some cool pictures last year and I wanted to start sharing them with you on my blog. Sightseeing is probably one of my favorite things to do! When my friend Dan and I drove to Texas to see Cody's Air Force Graduation I think I took about 900 pictures. Photography is something that I hold very close to my heart. I think it's so important to preserve memories. The first pictures I wanted to share with you were taken in St. Louis Missouri. We stopped there along the way to see The Arch. It was a very cold windy March afternoon. Not the best sightseeing weather, yet it was beautiful and worth it...





Standing under The Arch is an experience in itself. You can't look up for to long because you get dizzy. With the clouds moving, it makes it appear as if the Arch is moving back and forth.



Even though I was freezing to death, I am glad I can now say that I have seen The Arch in St. Louis!
Check out The Arch Website {HERE}
Photos taken in March of 2011

A ROOM & A DRESS

ROOM | DRESS
ROOM | DRESS
ROOM | DRESS
ROOM | DRESS

Go over to Kori's blog, Blonde Episodes to be part of Fashion Fridays!
You can view all my Fashion posts by clicking {HERE}. Have a great weekend!

5 YEARS of My Mod Style!

It's hard for me to believe that I have been blogging for 5 years. I honestly can't even remember how I stumbled across the blogger world! I think it all started when I opened a Flickr account. When I first started blogging I only followed Desire to Inspire, Making it Lovely, Creative Influences and a few other blogs. Most of these blogger's started when I did. I don't have 30,000 follower's, but I am still around and going strong!!! My blog started as a place for me to showcase all of our remolding projects for our house....
What a house and what an experience!! (See photos HERE.) My blog has had many looks and styles. I learned that I love designing things on Photoshop as much as decorating a room. Something I may have never learned about myself without my blog. Back in 2007 when I started my blog, I had also started my own decorating business. Here I am standing in my booth at the Cincinnati Home & Garden Show...
I was just proud of myself for getting into the show, not an easy thing to do! My business was Interior Design for nurseries and kids rooms. I had a few really good projects, but decided to go back to having regularly paying job in the beginning of 2008 when I was offered an assistant manager position at an antique mall. I was so overwhelmed with all the remodeling and decorating of my own home, that I was to drained to design for others. I ended up getting a job at the Ohio Valley Antique Mall working full-time. I have always been drawn to the antique business and hope I get the chance to work somewhere as awesome again...

My pink and black antique booth

My new job consumed my life. When the store first opened I worked 7 days a week. Which meant no time to blog. If you look back at my blog archive for 2008 it's pretty depressing....
Needless to say, I lost a lot of followers that year. I still kick myself for it. It was out of my control though. Blogging takes a lot of time, energy and effort. It also has to stay FUN. I still blog because I love to. I do struggle to keep up with it some days. It was much easier when I didn't have a job. In 2009 I was still working on our house so much that it really consumed my life. I started focusing on the exterior of the home. I was so proud of my landscaping...
In 2009 I also started working at IKEA and finally had most of the interior of our house decorated. Then as 2009 came to an end, Cody lost his job and our life got turned upside down! In 2010 that is when the direction of my blog totally changed. I decided it had to become more personal at that point. Since my blog had always mainly been based around the decorating of our house, I felt it necessary to be honest with my readers. We had to sell our home. Everyone needed to know why suddenly all the remodeling was done and our house was up for sale! It wouldn't make much sense to anyone if I wasn't honest about it, plus I am an honest person. Cody losing his job made him decide he wanted to join the Air Force, changing our life even more.
That kicked off 2011! I had a lot of cool stuff to blog about last year and it really inspired me to keep blogging. It's fun to look back on the last 5 years and see how much I have changed and the blog has changed! This year is the first time I have ever "celebrated" my blog anniversary, so I really wanted to do this post recapping the last 5 years. If you follow me, it means A LOT!! We all have such busy lives and if you take the time to stop by My Mod Style that is awesome. I can't wait to see what 2012 brings me! I may not have blog giveaways or be published in magazines, but I still plan on being here for awhile!

Please let me know what posts you love on My Mod Style.
What would you like to see more of?
Thanks for following and reading all my rambling!
Jessie

Jonathan Adler Kitty Bookends

I finally can say that I own something designed by Jonathan Adler. FINALLY.

We went to Barnes & Noble the other day to look at cookbooks and I saw the Jonathan Adler display. I was drawn to it like a magnet. I knew I had to have these kitty's....
I purchased them to display a few books on my orange Billy bookcase in the living room. (photo coming soon!) While thrifting I found these vintage books for $2...
I am always telling everyone else to decorate with vintage books and decided maybe I should do it! You can find some great books to that fit into your color scheme. I plan to use some new books also. My living room is currently a "work in progress". I also wanted to share with you a post by Elisabeth of Bova Goods. She has a beautiful collection of Condensed Reader's Digest books that really inspired me to buy vintage books! Check out her post {HERE}

Happy Hallmark Holiday!

Cody and I have been together for almost 9 years now and we are pretty proud of that! We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. I took some photos of us in the car a few days ago when we were out shopping...
Cody always manages to take photos of me when I am talking. I am usually saying,"When are you going to take the picture?" I never know when he's going to take it. I still love him though. lol You would think after 9 years I would just stop talking when the camera is out.

Cody is amazing and I am blessed to have him in my life. All the GOOD things in my life are in some way related to him. They happen because of him and he helps me get through all the tuff times. I drag him to antique stores, take him thrifting, make him listen to my music, he puts up with the PINK in the house and all my other annoying but somehow lovable habits. For that, HE IS AWESOME and I love him.

I hope you all do something sweet for someone you love in your life today!

Wrapping Paper Bookcase Backdrop

After searching for months, I finally found some wrapping paper to put in the back of my large bookcase in my dining room. I wanted something turquoise. I had found some cool fabric at JoAnn's, but didn't feel like buying yards of it! A trip to the dollar store last week paid off.

I found some crazy blue floral paper. I purchased two rolls for $2. It barely fit! The rolls were only 15ft long and I really could of used 16ft, so there are a few places where the white backing of the bookcase shows. For $2 though, who cares! I can always change it later. It's crazy bright...

It really makes everything POP instead of looking so plain and borrowing!
I got some great Alice stuff for Christmas! My parents bought me the Alice Cookie Jar I really wanted...I had to rearrange my original displays in the bookcase to get everything to fit. The cookie jar is rather large! I think it looks so much better now! I also got the Alice Precious Moment that I have wanted for a very long time...
I love combining my Alice stuff with vintage Pyrex and other kitchen items!Above I have a teapot and Vinylmation sitting on a photo album I found at TJ MAXX for $7! I love the pattern on it so much! Below is just a photo of my favorite Alice Vinylmation, the White Rabbit...
I used my box of paint swatches to raise the Alice Book higher in this display...
When I first put the wrapping paper in the back of the bookcase I thought it might be way to bright and bold. I have lived with it now for over a week and it's grown on me, so I guess it stays!

Now I just have to still get artwork, a buffet and a new rug! It's all a slow process. lol
You can view my original Dining Room Post {HERE}