Friday Highlights & 2015 Blogger Year In Review Week #3

Hello Friday!
Friends I am rejoicing, singing and dancing around the Christmas tree today because not only is it FriYAY, it's the first official day of Christmas break! How do I plan to spend our first full day off?! Grocery shopping! Riveting, I know. But a family has to eat right?! Another reason we are celebrating is the hubby has the next week off of work. No school, Russ home, surely we'll get our bucket list wrapped up soon.
Now for this weeks Friday highlights.

{ONE}  2015 Blogger Year In Review Week # 3
It's the last week of the blogger year in review (that went by fast).  You can check out my first and second post here.

 So far I have shared about my favorite posts in 2015, scratched the surface on introducing a few bloggers I have really connected with this year and today I am sharing 5 blogging tools I have grown to love in 2015.
1)  Instagram Photo Download.
Do you ever just want to quickly snag a photo off of Instagram? Instagram won't let you save photos but this website will. They give you a downloadable file in seconds. 
I can't tell you how much time this site saves me. 
2) Printable Recipes on Blogger
I had pretty much gave up on being able to add printable recipe cards to my blogger site until I found 'The Recipe Wiz'. So easy to use and they look great too. I also love that once the recipe is put into my blog post I can edit it without having to go back to the site.  
3) PicMonkey Collage Maker
A lot of people seem to be pretty loyal to either Pic Monkey or Canva and I just cant decide.  However, when it comes to making a collages Pic Monkey wins every time. 
4) Image Mapping
Ever want to take a photo and map it to add clickable links?
This site makes it fast and easy. I have used this tool several times in 2015.
5) Social Media Icons
I love these free social media icons. So many great styles and colors you are sure to find something you love. There is also a tutorial on how to install them at the bottom. 
And there you have it, 5 of my blogging secret weapons revealed. Make sure to grab the button and link-up with us at the bottom of the page!
{TWO} Christmas Gallery Wall
Earlier this week when I shared our holiday home tour I mentioned that next year I would like to switch our all of the photos to Christmas photos on our gallery wall.

I guess I took it as a sign when I found a package of photo paper and had a full cartridge. Next years idea happened a lot sooner than I thought it would.

I LOVE the results. It is the perfect way to add yet another little touch of Christmas to our home. 
{THREE} Blog Highlights this week
This week on the blog I shared about...

Monday - Our holiday home tour. Curious how we decorate? Take a look! Tuesday - Our Pre-Christmas get-away to Branson, MO Wednesday - Our second Christmas fun check-in. Thursday - A simple recipe to create minion krispy treats.

{FOUR} Rain Boot Love

Earlier this week I posted this photo on Instagram with a "great" dilemma.

Have you ever ordered two of something online planning to return one and you end up unable to decide which to keep? Practical black or mint green ( I know the photo look teal but trust me, they are mint)

I decided to keep the mint, (Happy it's almost my birthday to me) they may be less "practical" but who wants to be boring! Looking for a pair to call your own? Target has a HUGE selection online they are on sale for $28 right now and you can score free shipping too!

Do you think I made the right choice?
{FIVE} Must See Christmas Movies

Lately the Mr and I have been talking a bit about a few movies that we think the girls are now old enough to watch. For example, Home Alone. I also realized that my girls have never watched either of the Grinch movies, how is that even possible?!

So that left me wondering what other Christmas movies are we missing out on?

I think it is safe to say that Elf and Christmas Vacation remain #1 around here.

But I don't think I'll let the girls watch Christmas vacation until they are 18... at least ;).

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Today I am hosting:
Friday Linkup Parties To see where I am linking up check out my link-up tab.

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a great weekend!

We will see you back here soon.