Whew. Could the holidays rush me any more than they are? I mean, there was over a month between Valentine’s Day & St. Patrick’s Day, but now both Easter & Passover are like, five minutes away. Sheesh. But on the plus side, it’s officially spring! As of two days ago, winter is officially OVER.

Pretty good stuff, right? Well, yeah, but when you live on the East Coast, particularly New York and north of that, you learn that the official dates of seasons don’t mean a whole lot. It can be 90-something degrees on Halloween, and it can snow on Easter. So the words “spring” and “winter” don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Hell, it just snowed a fair amount here on March 7th. Well, actually it snowed two nights ago, and a little more yesterday, but no accumulation.

But I have high hopes. I have high hopes that spring is here, or at least soon-to-be. So here’s the springtime Friday Fifteen!

1. Big changes that are coming. Not really to the blog, per se. But for me. Although I guess that affects the blog, too, right? Anyway… more on that another time… for now you can just keep guessing as to what it may be *wink*
2. I love this white feather Easter wreath. I actually made one myself, and it’s supercrazyadorable, however mine has bunny ears on top, a pink bow at the bottom, and small glittery eggs hanging off it. It’s a great spin on the typical flowery or green spring wreath.
3. The fact that Grimm finally came back to my TV on March 8th. Took them long enough! It was supposed to come back in January. Grrr…
4. Not everybody lives in a house, or rather I should say, regardless of whether or not they live in a house, not everybody has a yard or outdoor space in which to grow herbs in the spring or summer. And for that reason I love The Tasteful Garden’s herb planting kits. While they’re perfect for windowsills or kitchen counters, they look just as nice outside too. So whether you have a lot of outdoor space, not so much outdoor space or no outdoor space at all- there’s no excuse! You can still grow fresh herbs!
5. Chocolate cupcakes for two. Love it.
6. I love this felt Easter garland from GingerSweetCrafts on Etsy. It’s really simple & colorful, not too over-the-top, & easy… if you’re not into much decorating. I am, however, and I still love it.
7. THESE BUNNY CUPCAKE TOPPERS ARE FREAKIN’ ADORABLE.
8. Now that the sun is out longer & stronger, even if just a LITTLE bit… that means the days of heavy meals like potato soup or baked macaroni & cheese are coming to a close, and the days of salads & light meals are right around the corner. Which is good. As much as I adore me some macaroni & cheese with bacon, I have a serious hankering for fresh vegetables in my life. And that includes fresh, light tomato sauces with fresh basil from the garden. Ahh, I can’t wait. It’s almost garden time!
9. Dying eggs with Kool-Aid & RIT dye?! Gold dipped Easter eggs? Really? Interesting.
10. Rugelach is traditionally served for Hanukkah, but I love it, so I think it can work for Passover too. I’m a rule-breaker. This recipe is easy & can be customized. Go nuts! And pssst… apricot jam can be used as apricot filling.
11. The gorgeous Ball 100th anniversary re-issue blue jars! So awesome. I pre-ordered mine, and I got them a few days later despite the initial shipping date of the 22nd. I wonder what the next item will be that they’ll re-issue?
12. Need more Easter baking ideas? I got your back, yo. Check out the Easter category! It’s chock full of cute ideas & recipes.
13. I wish I’d thought of this speckled cake idea. Dammit!
14. These DIY bunny-topped jars are very adorable. I wanna make some! Remember my DIY candy jars? I wish I’d done some with little bunnies or animals on top. I think I have to now. I used to have some little plastic kitties, I wonder where they went?
15. And finally…I love my brand new, beautiful, amazing Cassis Le Creuset 7.25 qt round French oven! I love this thing more than you can possibly imagine. Seriously. I love the color… but I still really wish they sold it in pink in the U.S., though. What’s wrong with us in the U.S. that we can’t have pink Le Creuset? *sad face* Well either way, I love my new baby. And in case you didn’t see it, I used her already this week! Three times, as a matter of fact. This isn’t the best photo of it… but it doesn’t matter ’cause it’s gorgeous in person!