Ringing in the New Year with MotoX

Motorola's new MotoX lets you customize your new phone from top to bottom, front to back, sides and insides!  As a nature lover, I was drawn to the wood-grain.  You can even add custom lazer engraving on the back: add your name, your favorite team or your one word intention for 2015.  My word is Inspire.

How would you customize a phone to fit your personal style?  My son was all over the football texture:

I think my favorite feature is the Best Shot feature which takes several photos before and after you snap the picture and identifies your optimal shot.  It even knows if you’ve taken several pictures at a party or on vacation, and will organize them into a highlight reel with options for music and special effects.  It also lets you do more using only your voice, working with favorite apps like Facebook, Twitter, Google Play Music and Pandora.

My daughter selected a teal back with silver sides, white front and coordinating case:

She inscribed her phone with "Adventure Outside".  Her dad just sent her a Motorola phone with a note saying, "Remember the world of Adventure lives outside a phone a computer."  I think it's a good reminder that our smartphones can help us prepare and get us to places, but it's up to us to put the phone/screen away and get out and live.

The new Moto X is everything you want in a premium smartphone without the premium price. It is available for $99 with a two-year contract and $499 without a contract. Add $25 for the wood or leather backs.

What adventures await you in 2015?  How will you ring in the New Year??  Head over to the Moto Maker site and create your own customized phone and check out the other features the MotoX offers.  Ring in this year with style!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Building Memories wih LEGO® & LEGO® Minifigure Holiday Cards

Are you ready?  The family is arriving and you can feel the excitement in the air with all of the kids running around Grandma's house.  The little balls of wound up energy usually scurry straight to the basement to get busy continuing the LEGO land they've left off at Thanksgiving.

These LEGOs have been passed down from one generation to the next.  My aunt brought over a huge tub of LEGOs passed down from my cousins, now in their 30s.

LEGOs truly are the gift that keeps on giving.  My brothers all got LEGOs for Christmas when they were kids and I love the Friends sets they came out with several years ago.  When my sister and I were younger, we'd spend full days building Barbie villages out of LEGOs.  The Lego figures fit the same scale as the village- no more towering Barbies in LEGO villages!

The kids spend hours down here building, making modifications and using their imaginations.  The best part to me is that as they build, they are also building lasting memories of spending time with their cousins.  It's so easy for the kids to each disappear on an electronic device and barely have contact sitting right next to each other.

As they are busy playing, the adults are freed up for last minute holiday preparations.

I like to keep an extra kid gift on hand in case I forgot about someone.  Although we don't buy gifts for each person in our family, you never know when a BFF might show up with a gift or an unexpected birthday invitation shows up in your kids' backpack.  Kids love 'em, grown ups get tired of stepping on them...I know.  

The only thing I didn't get done this holiday was the family Christmas card.  We had gorgeous family photos taken in a wintery aspen grove - perfect for a holiday card.  Sometimes, you just have to give yourself permission to let a few things go.  Not all is lost.  If you skipped the holiday card like I did, you can create your very own LEGO Minifigure Holiday Card!

As a family-owned company, LEGO Systems is in the business of helping families "build" memories. The LEGO Minifigure Holiday card is yet another way the whole family can come together, create and share. Choose your scene and your own characters/family members with outfits, expressions, hats, hairdos, wardrobe and more tocreate a one-of-a-kind LEGO Minifigures Family Photo.  Honestly, I think the ski goggles on my LEGO doppelganger add such a local touch.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Cashew Chai

This is my favorite warm Ayurveda breakfast:  stewed fruit with spices and warm chai.  I prefer a dairy-free, soy-free option to mix with my chai and have been using almond milk in place of skim milk for quite some time now.  The stewed fruit is apple, pear, pineapple, cinnamon, ginger & cloves simmered until soft.  The warmth of the fruit and warming spices is very satisfying for breakfast.  I've discovered a new creamy dairy-free, soy-free option...