We spent last week in the Vail Valley.

It was literally 35 degrees cooler there than here when we arrived.

35 degrees.

One of my favorite things about vacation is just taking pictures.

I probably have 100 pictures of orange poppies only rivaled by the number of pictures of pink poppies only rivaled by the number of pictures of mountains only rivaled by the number of pictures of my boys.

I just can’t help it.

I want to scoop it all up and take it home with me.

Except that it all wouldn’t survive.

Those 35 degrees are important ones.

Waffle.

Butcher.

Waffle Butcher.

Chopped Waffle.

OK, so I might have been a little bored (first posted 7-2-08).

But I have to say I am shocked that Crocs hasn’t come out with the Mr. Potatohead Jibbitz…

More random, yet funny time-wastes:

Lego Dance Party

Naked Santa

Why Holly’s children run and cover their heads when they see Oprah

My dad has been working on a tree house in his backyard for about 9 months or more.  I started this post several months ago and have been adding pictures/video as he has added tree house square footage.

The initial tree house plans seemed simple enough – a spiral staircase up the tree trunk to a fenced platform.

Simple.

Except that isn’t exactly my dad’s style…remember extreme play house?

So he built a spiral staircase and a tree house platform.

And then a zipline.

And then a door to open to access the zipline and a fold-out zipline platform to have exactly the right launch height.

Because if you are going on a zipline, you definitely want to be launched at the correct height from the tree house.

And then a fireman’s pole…and then a fire pole floor cover for the tree house floor.

And then tree house walls.

And then a tree house roof.

Oh, and then a bucket.

The kids were pretty obsessed with the bucket.  Up goes the bucket via the pulley.  Down goes the bucket via gravity.

The bucket was popular from above.

The bucket was popular from below.

And then a tree house tower which will lead up to a 2nd floor.

2nd floor?

Yep,  now he is working on the tree house second floor.  It is now the end of November and he has gotten a lot more done:

The tower now has stairs between the first and second tree house floors.  This is the view from above and you can see that he continued the spiral stair theme.

The second floor will be an open air roof top patio.  He is still working on the railing, but you can already enjoy the view:

Not a bad place to play.

I shot a quick video tree house tour on Thanksgiving Day when we were visiting. Let me just apologize now for the incorrect aspect ratio - I wasn’t thinking!

He got some of the tree house ideas from the Stiles Design book, Tree Houses You can Actually Build and their website.  He found that the information was really helpful with the spiral stairs and ideas for building structures in a tree without harming the tree.

This appears that it will be a multi-year project, which makes it exciting to see what is new at each visit and I will continue to update.

It is the most wonderful time of the year…

Christmas Card takin’ time!

Don’t despair!

This is something that you can do at home with your own camera.  Don’t be fooled into so-called professional photography.  NO expertise needed!  Just follow my simple steps to the perfect take-it-yourself Christmas picture.

Holly’s Handy Dandy Steps to the Perfect DIY Christmas Picture:

1. Gather the kids and dress ‘em in something nice – We are taking a picture!  They will be excited so try and create a calm environment for your photograph.

2.  Encourage the kids to smile – it is best to command smiling over and over again in a stern and warning voice.

3.  When encouragement isn’t getting the results you need, then threatening them within an inch of their life is extremely effective – the bigger the threat, the better the result.

4.  Changing the scene helps especially if you are asking them to sit in the presence of spiders – children adore bugs!

5.  It is optimal to require them to sit or stand without moving – holding a pose quietly comes naturally to children (especially boys) and often they will thank you after the session for allowing them to express their “inner statue”.

6.  Posing the children in elaborate formations, such as a pyramid, encourages their participation – children are extremely attentive to being photographed and won’t be distracted by the fact that their brother’s knee is jabbing them in the back or that the grass is wet beneath their knees.

7.  Have the children hug to create a calm sense of brotherly love – boys love hugs especially from their brothers.  Hugging for the camera combines two of their favorite things.  It is very win-win.

8.  Pose the kids in front of the Christmas tree – every expression is more festive there!

9.  Be aware that non-photo Christmas cards are available at almost any retail location – after taking 547 inadequate photographs intended for Christmas card distribution, it might be best to pick up a few boxes.

I like NASCAR.

I like going to the race.

I like the crazy huge community that forms around Texas Motor Speedway on race weekends.

Chevy sent me tickets to the AAA Texas 500 and for the fun at the Chevy Village of Champions before the race.  Thanks soooo much, Chevy!

And then they had the CRAZY COOL power to put me behind the wheel of a Chevy Silverado during the Driver Intro.

Yes, they let me drive a driver around the track minutes before the start of the AAA Texas 500.

*what were they thinking?*

I was excited to find out that the driver that would be in the back of my pick-up truck was Ryan Newman.  I am particularly fond of him because he recently appeared on one of my favorite shows, American Pickers.

Obviously, I would need to learn MORE about Ryan to do the best job possible.

I tried out Ryan Newman’s chair.

I tried on Ryan Newman’s clothes.

I found where Ryan Newman was appearing.

And showed up early.

After his appearance, my husband and I had enough time to grab a quick lunch at the Chevy tent.

We ran into some other bloggers and recruited Andie to join us in the Silverado.

Branden, me, Andie and her friend Stef.

We all went to Driver Intro Training (I love how super official that sounds).

Since one of the main rules is that the drivers can’t take pictures…duh.  I was lucky to have my husband and Andie along to photograph the entire experience.

They reviewed the route we would take.  We were to pick up the driver when he was announced, carefully drive no faster than 25 mph around the Texas Motor Speedway track and then drop off the driver at his race car on pit row.

Lord, have mercy on me.

We headed over as a group to the center of Texas Motor Speedway which requires going under the track through the pedestrian tunnel.

And found a line of super shiny Silverado trucks waiting for us.

Ours was bright red and we thought we better try out the truck bed to make sure it would be safe for Ryan Newman.

Before I had time to think about it, we were in the truck ON THE RACE TRACK lined up to pick up our drivers.

When we picked up Ryan Newman, I was to PAUSE for pictures and not make an abrupt start as to vault him out of the truck.

The whole area was FULL of people and I was supposed to be turning tightly, remembering not to make an sudden movements, and not run over anyone in front of me.

This is what it felt like:

Oh, and the truck in front of me had Jeff Gordon…you can see his blurry wave.

We made it past the crowds near the starting line and drive low on the track all the way around.

As we passed the crowds, shouts of “Newman!” would echo.  Andie might have set her camera on top the truck for this picture:

I made the last turn onto pit row.  Please note that the whiteness of my knuckles is NOT completely due to lighting:

There were people, people, and more people to worry about.

And I didn’t want to crash into a race car, either.

I drove down to the 14th pit position and dropped of Ryan Newman.  Jeff Gordon jumped off his truck right in front of us.

Whoo hoo!

Mission accomplished.

Last weekend I was in Austin, Texas for Bloggy Bootcamp with the fabulous SITS Girls.  Sunday morning found a few of us roaming 6th Street in search of breakfast…

..but we stopped when we smelled that pizza.

A plate with TWO large pieces of pizza, a roof-top patio, and a group of fellow bloggers turned out to be the perfect combination.

I was presented this by Reid(7) the other morning:

“It’s a storm trooper dance party”.

Oh, and the light above them actually lights up.

I have two questions about this masterpiece…

• Where does he come up with this stuff?
• Should I be doing a 2 am bed-check?

These are pictures from last weekend’s game against the Devil Rays.

I am still holding my breath since the Yankees are in town this weekend...

Yesterday I gave you a behind the scenes look of the fun that is happening today…

Earlier this year Courtney Robbins started a clothing company called Gypsy & Co.   She creates beautiful dresses:

and funky Bohemian style tunics with leggings:

and pairs them with these I-HAVE-TO-HAVE-THEM-NOW boots:

Oh, and everything is amazingly comfortable.

Like wearing-sweats comfortable.

Quite honestly she is removing ALL EXCUSES for not looking cute.

The really cool thing about Gypsy & Co. clothes is that it is a home-based business.  You can sign up to sell clothes at home parties like you would for candles or makeup or you can sell online as an e-stylist.  I have opened up a store front for Gypsy as an e-stylist and already have one in-real-life party scheduled which is a BONUS!  Courtney has put together a special blogger e-stylist package (for a limited time) that opens YOUR Gypsy store for $49 plus $17 a month for the website.  It allows you to earn commission, purchase clothes for HUGE discounts and grow a home business at your pace.  CLICK here for more information.

And now for the giveaway!

*drum roll*

I am so excited to giveaway a HEAD to TOE outfit from Gypsy & Co…

Yep, I am giving away:

• Your choice of dress or tunic/leggings
• Your choice of boots
• It is a full outfit (up to $500) that you pick out!

You are going to look FABULOUS.

Here is how to enter:

• Tell me about one outfit you regularly wear that needs replacing in the comments below.

For extra entries (please leave a comment below for each you complete):

• Like Gypsy Couture on Facebook.
• Like June Cleaver Nirvana on Facebook (or mention you already do…thanks!)
• Tweet this contest (please @Texasholly and @Gypsyandco)
• FB this contest
• Visit my Gypsy store and mention a favorite item

The contest will end in one week (midnight CST Wednesday, October 13, 2010) and I will select a winner through the fancy magic of random number generation and notify the lucky duck via email. Unfortunately, I am not eligible for this contest or I would be wearing the fancy new outfit now.  The prize is being provided by the generosity of Gypsy & Company…thanks Courtney!

Good luck!