Happy Friday everyone! Next Tuesday I’ll start in on the flavors and toppings for ice cream month, but today I wanted to let you know how you can celebrate ice cream month along with us!

First, we want to know about your favorite local, mom-and-pop ice cream parlor. Send us a photo of your favorite local scoop spot to simpletip@realsimple.com along with the following things:

• the name of the ice cream parlor
• the city and state where it is located
• the website (if they have one)
• your name
• your favorite flavor

We’ll be sharing the photos in a gallery of the best ice cream spots in the country on RealSimple.com.

Second, we’ve joined our friends over at Foodspotting, the website and app that gives you visual food recommendations, to create a cross-country guide to the best ice cream flavors. Check out our Real Simple Ice Cream Social Guide here. To start contributing, follow these steps:

• join foodspotting via either the website or their app (available on iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, and coming soon to Blackberry)
• follow the Real Simple Ice Cream Social Guide
• spot your favorite ice cream (learn how to spot on Foodspotting’s FAQ)
• add your sightings to our guide

I can’t wait to see all the flavors you spot!

And finally, check out our Discounts & Deals blog. We’ll be mixing in some ice cream related discounts (and maybe a few giveaways!) throughout the month.

Since it’s the long holiday weekend, I want to know what kind of ice cream or ice cream dessert you’ll be enjoying and spotting! Have a happy 4th!

(The photo is one of my foodspotting photos—Earl Grey ice cream from Van Leeuwen’s Ice Cream in Brooklyn!)