I’m so excited for another long weekend! I plan to spend the weekend away from my television and away from all the inauguration hype. At some point, though, I’m going to have to take down our Christmas decorations. I’ve been away from home every weekend since Christmas and every time I pass our Christmas tree I just have to try to ignore it. I did take some decent pictures of the tree with my Canon Rebel, so I’m going to have to put some of them on the blog before the tree comes down. Am I the only one that made it to January 16 with a Christmas tree still up?

Over the course of this long weekend, Todd and I will see the following movies. We’ve got four nights to do it and I’m determined!

Okay, so maybe Todd won’t agree to Bride Wars, but I’ll see it without him.

One of my favorite mommy mentors offered to take me to Babies “R” Us this weekend to show me the ropes. I have no intentions of registering for a thing until I know if we’re having a boy or a girl. I am just so excited that somebody is going to take me to that superstore and help me so I don’t get too lost. I’ve never even set foot in a Babies “R” Us, so I’m sure there would be plenty of things that I’d be unsure of.

How do all of you plan on spending the long weekend? Any big plans?

My friend, Emily, of From the Land of Cotton tagged me with the Honest Scrap Award. This should be fun. I read all of her answers and feel like we might have been separated at birth because we’re so similar.

The rules of the award:
1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

Here are my 10 honest things:

1) Though my husband is an optimist when it comes to Gamecock football, I have kind of given up hope. Maybe it’s because I’m growing a baby and feel like I have more important things to worry about, but I don’t share his optimism right now. I have to bite my tongue any time I see something on TV. Sorry, TC.

2) Other than our house, we are completely debt-free. I can’t even tell you how good that feels. I spent a large part of my time in college racking up credit card debt without completely understanding what I was doing. I am just so proud to have that as a thing of the past.

3) I love to cook, but refuse to make a mediocre meal. I don’t mean how it tastes, but how big the challenge is. If I’m going to take the time to cook I’m going to go all out. No heating up frozen vegetables or canned vegetables. Ingredients must be fresh. I’m 100% sure I’ll get over this after the baby arrives.

4) I’m so excited to be serving as the Day of Coordinator for a wedding for the first time! The wedding is in March and I can’t wait!

5) I have to take off my wedding and engagement ring every time I fall asleep. I think my fingers swell while I sleep and that is the most claustrophobic feeling in the world to have the rings stuck on my finger!

6) I love to sing. I have done a lot of musical theater and have been singing my whole life in choirs, weddings, and church. I also love to pretend like I’m singing. Pantomime. I think my friend, CET-Destinesia and my Dad are the only ones that truly appreciate this hidden talent. Give me some old school Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, or Tina Turner and I’m going to pretend like I’m belting it out. Another favorite is Danke Schoen– Ferris Bueller-style. Maybe my baby will appreciate it, too.

7) I hate replacing the toilet paper roll and paper towel roll. Period. Good thing my husband accepts this about me.

8) I love change. Lots of people don’t, but I do. I feel like things aren’t right if I don’t have a big change take place in my life every couple of years. I’m sure that comes from so much moving around when I was growing up. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

9) I think my husband and I have decided not to publicly share the name of the baby. This will be pretty difficult, I think, but I just don’t want to hear anyone criticize the name and I want to wait until the baby arrives to make sure that’s what we want to name him or her.

10) TC and I love game shows. LINGO is a favorite as is The Family Feud. I personally love Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy (like my friend, USCEmily) and can be found watching both game shows every night after work.

Dearest Mojito Maven gave me the You Are Truly Beautiful Award awhile back. Thank you, MM. So are you!

And Nina gave me this lovely award. Thank you, thank you!

Sure, I don’t really want to see Valentine’s Day items hitting the shelves before New Year’s Eve comes and goes, but I do love to see the cute red and pink things. Hearts, candy, balloons. Maybe I like it because the colors are great. I also like Valentine’s Day because it reminds me of being a kid and passing out valentines at school. My mom would always help me make a really cute “mailbox” for my desk and I am so looking forward to doing those things with our child.

I know that Valentine’s Day is known as the Hallmark holiday, but I don’t care. My husband and I don’t even go crazy on Valentine’s Day with gifts and dinners. I just love the feeling of love all day. And I like candy.

Williams-Sonoma is definitely on the Valentine’s Day band wagon with these delicious looking treats. We actually ordered some of the chocolate-filled croissants to eat over Christmas and they were delicious.

This is just the icing on the red velvet cake. Oh my goodness, it looks heavenly. Of course red velvet is my favorite, but it’s heart-shaped! Adorable.

Am I the only one that’s already excited about Valentine’s Day?

I’ve been waiting on 2009 for just two reasons:

And here’s my favorite dress. I have a soft spot for ladies that can pull of yellow so beautifully. Christina Applegate looks stunning.