I think I’m coming down with a fever.
Spring Fever! 
That is, I cannot friggin’ wait until Spring officially arrives. It’s been warm and sunny all week, which has me feeling like winter is finally on its way out, plus all the snow that fell a couple weeks ago is nearly melted. That, and daylight savings time starts in THREE WEEKS, and Negril is less than two months away – whee!
Which reminds me…I gotta hit the gym this afternoon. 
In the meantime, enjoy your weekend (your long weekend to those who have President’s Day off!) and please enjoy my picks from around the web and beyond in this week’s Friday Favorites!
Favorite sip: Raspberry Beer Cocktail. I CANNOT WAIT TO TRY THIS!! We’re having family pizza night tonight, and I think I’m going to bring a batch.
Favorite party: MARDI GRAS! I wrote a freelance article this week about mardi gras foods, which got me missing my favorite city. HARD. I tried to convince Ben to take a last minute trip down to NOLA this weekend and into next week for Mardi Gras but, no dice.
Favorite funny: Dogs under water. If you click through just one link in this week’s Friday Favorites, make it this one. It will nearly make your heart explode with love and laughter.
Favorite bite: Veggie Gyros. I have not had falafel in a hot minute. This needs to change with Veggie Gyros!
Favorite kitchen accent: Moroccan Backsplash. Love. Love. Love. Love. Did I mention, love?
Favorite easy dinner: Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino (Garlic, Olive Oil & Chili Flakes with Spaghetti.) This reminds me of some of the yummy pasta dishes Ben and I had in Italy. Simple pleasures.
Favorite face lift: Walnut Scratch Remover. I’d heard of this tip before, but have never seen it in action. Going to try it out with some scratches that over the door hangers have made on a few doors around here. 
Favorite mmmm: Pudding Icing. Check. This. Out.
Favorite sweet accent: The Cooking Necklace. Awwww!
Favorite time waster: Food on My Dog Blog. I seriously want a dog just so I can balance food on her head and post it here on IGE.
Favorite outfit. Minus the hat (I look ridiiiiiculous in hats,) this is the perfect summer outfit. Jorts are my fave. 
Favorite indulgence: Bacon and Corn Griddle Cakes. There are not enough words to describe how much I want these. Sweet & savory to the max!
Favorite cereal: Nature’s Path Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise. I picked up a box of this cereal at Costco last weekend and one of the two pouches is cough already gone cough. It tastes like Rice Krispie Treat Cereal, but is gluten free and the sugar content isn’t that crazy either. It’s soooooo good with unsweetened vanilla almond breeze.
Favorite energy saving tip. This tip comes from my sister-in-law. If you don’t have little ones or pets running around, keep the oven door open after cooking something in it. You already paid for the energy to heat up the oven, so you might as well use what’s left to help heat the house!
Favorite tip: Frozen Ginger. This is absolutely brilliant!
Favorite sweet treat: Strawberry Layer Cake with Whipped Strawberry Frosting. The frosting on this cake looks like airy, melt in your mouth perfection. What a perfect girly/summer/everyday cake!!
Have a great weekend everyone! TGIF!
LOVE that drink! my boyfriend’s family makes it with pink lemonade and calls it a “pink panty pull down”… slightly ridiculous
but so DELISH! enjoy!
Mollie
Oh my! Perhaps this is not the most appropriate for family pizza night then! HA!
We called it a Strip and Go Naked! in college- made with pink lemonade concentrate CHEAP beer and vodka ha ha ha
Who makes the orange leather bracelet and blue blouse?
Love it! Thanks!
If you click on the link it shows you where each piece of the outfit is from.
I look forward to your Friday Favorites all week!!!! (seriously…I will now ants-ily anticipate next week’s) I got bit hard with spring fever this week too…too bad DC is supposed to get snow this weekend
BUT it’s like 50 degrees outside now, and I wish it were 70 to wear that OUTFIT! I love it! And that backsplash is going in my dream house folder right now. Thanks for all the links!
Haha! We call it a strip and go naked! So good on a hot summer day!!
I have a baking necklace from etsy my boyfriend got me last year. It’s measuring spoons and a cupcake pan — love it!
I also love that dog blog! It’s hilarious!
I had to laugh out loud when I saw that cake. I use the exact same recipe that I got from a former co-worker, but mine is never that pretty. It is soooooo yummy, though!!
I have Spring Fever SO bad right now! I’ve spent my entire morning looking through Gurney’s spring catalog, picking out which trees, flowers, fruits, & veggies I want to plant this year. We’ve been luckily to have a mild winter this year, but I swear it has made it harder because I’ve been thinking it’s almost spring for months now!
love that walnut tip!!
I’ve made that cocktail before and set it out at my friend’s birthday party. It’s really good and really sweet. It was a huge hit. The recipe called for fresh or frozen raspberries, but I would use fresh. The frozen kind of turned to mush.
So fun to see my frosting recipe here! I actually have your lettuce wraps on the menu for tonight. The cyberworld can be really small sometimes! :0)
Oh my gosh – too funny! Your frosting looks soooo divine. I want to take a face plant in it.
I had to laugh at the oven tip. My husband is crazy about that one! Hates it if I forget to leave it open! I will def be using that ginger tip, genious!
Girl, you need to get out of my head! Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise with unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze is the best thing ever & is what I had for breakfast this morning. I’m becoming slightly obsessed with it and have killed about 3 boxes of it within 2 weeks. It’s addicting!
Ahhh, seeing those griddle cakes at lunch time is killing me! They look amazing!
i have those griddle cakes pinned! yummmm. good roundup this week
hahah that Food On My Dog blog has got me DYING!
Wow, that backsplash is GORgeous! We’re remodeling our kitchen in the next few months. I will now be begging for Moroccan backsplash until the hubs gives in!
First off, Mai’s blog is beautiful. Thanks for sharing that (and her beer recipe). Secondly, I’m loving your Friday Favs more and more each week. Thirdly, I want a slice of that cake right. now.
http://littlefriendsphoto.com/index2.php#/gallery1/1/ More underwater dog pics! (this is the guy’s site from the article)
That cocktail is great! I use 3 bottles MGD light and instead of regular vodka, I use UV blue. Yummy.
Good tip with the oven! The doggies underwater are HILARIOUS! Also nice use of the word jorts
Is it April yet?!
The ginger tip is spot on. However, when I clicked through, the original author says that using a rasp to grate the ginger leaves the fibrous strings.
If the ginger is frozen – it does not! Instead you end up with a little pile of shavings like are so tiny they melt into whatever you’re making with the ginger. It’s amazing! And the frozen ginger grates so easy!
I love always having “fresh” ginger on hand!!
I LOL’d at the dog under water photo. Also, be careful with that drink. We called it “Pink Panty Dropper” in college.
I’ve been doing the oven trick for years. Growing up it was so cold in our house in the morning. My mom always light the oven and heated the kitchen while we ate breakfast.
Oh my gosh, I am obsessed with that cereal, too! I bought it a few weeks ago and I have to restock every week…the two pouches don’t cut it
lol.
Now I have a major hankering for a veggie gyro! MmMmMmMm!
I always look forward to your Friday Favs
If you’re looking for a frozen ginger shortcut, Whole Foods sells frozen ginger cubes (along with other types of spices). Trader Joe’s carries a lot of them but I haven’t seen ginger there yet. Have a good weekend!
I LOVE Friday Favorites! It gets me through my long day knowing I can sit down, curl up on the couch, and read you Friday Favs! Thanks for being a bright spot in my week!
Oh! That dog looks so sad in all the pictures!
Poor thing!
ever since finding your green monster smoothie on pinterest, i’ve totally been enjoying your blog.
Love the dog pictures! Anyone with a dog can so relate to their expressions!
Do you know of a place in the DSM area that sells falafel’s? They are so yummy and now craving one!
As always, love your friday favorites! I think my favorite this week is the moroccan backsplash, but I DO need to try that drink, and I literally lol’ed at the “food on my dog”
Have a great weekend!
Friday Fave’s are great! I love scrolling through them and reading your comments. Take care!!
omg I loooooooove that Vanilla Crunch cereal too!
My mil has made this cake for years–you bake a devil’s food cake as directed. Let cool, then mix vanilla pudding as directed, and add cool whip (as much as you want). Then refrigerate, it is awesome! The chocolate with the cool pudding/whip mix…so good! So simple too
Oh my, lOVE that moroccan backsplash. Totally need it when we reno our kitchen someday. We’ve never been to NOLA but it’s on our list. always looks like a blast.
Loved the pictures of the dogs underwater, thanks for sharing! I do the same thing with my oven during the cold Iowa winter months.
We’re having a Mardi Gras party this weekend! I’ve never seen the real deal, but my bf has.
Wow, I don’t even know what to comment on! There is so much I love here… that dog’s face made me smile! I also LOVE pudding and feel like I need to make that icing right away. And I adore the backsplash, would love to try those pancakes, adore the pink cake…. love it all.
I’m totally there with you on spring fever! I cannot wait to be able to walk around without a coat one. Seems like it might still be a bit aways for us in England, oh well. That kitchen black-splash is amazing, I adore the color…actually that color would go very well with the pink cake you posted.
The foodie dog, that outfit, and those griddlecakes are all awesome!
oh my gosh, the food on my dog site had me in tears i was laughing so hard!!
Just made my day with the Food on My Dog blog, amagash.
I’ve been making that raspberry cocktail for practically every get together since mid summer, with a couple of slight adjustments – we muddle the raspberries first and then use 2 beers and 1 cup of vodka. It’s SO good it’s dangerous. BUT, if you think one batch is enough…it never is!!
Make sure you are careful not to leave the oven ON if you are trying to heat the house. This is a really dangerous thing- carbon monoxide poisoning is not something to mess around with. I totally understand letting the residual heat from the turned off oven warm the kitchen, but definitely don’t leave it on.
I would love to say I have spring fever but its SNOWING here (SW VA)! Love the ideas though
Gotta make that spaghetti for my hubs one night – or just give him the recipe for his lunch since he eats it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. You are just the cutest thing ever – cannot get enough of your pictures and descriptions. Keep ‘em comin’!
I love your Friday Favorites! That cocktail sounds heavenly right about now
I definitely have spring fever too…it can’t come soon enough for me!
Thank you so much for featuring my raspberry drink. Love your site!