Today’s Ten on Tuesday topic is Ten Things I Am Looking Forward to Right Now:

1. My upcoming trip to Hungary.
2. Our friend’s birthday party tomorrow evening.
3. The return of volleyball next week. (A snow day means the venue is closed, so no game today.)
4. Vegetables. (The 4-day weekend involved an awful lot of delicious, tasty carbs and now I’m jonesing for some healthy fare.)
5. Sock Madness. (Starting March 1)
6. The Ninja Book Swap I signed up for. (Buying presents for — and receiving them from — random strangers on the internet is surprisingly satisfying.)
7. Picking up my books from the library. (The Georgetown Branch was closed 2 1/2 days for a broken water pipe, 1 day for the holiday, and 1 day for the snow.)
8. Spring flowers. (Seeing the snowdrops last week — now buried under five inches of actual snow — was too tantalizing and is exacerbated by Twitter pictures of magnolias blooming in Louisiana.)
9. Pi(e) Day. (Rudi may or may not be in town, but I feel like it needs celebrating anyway this year.)
10. Rearranging our living room. (Rudi and I talked about it this weekend and are on board with the first major furniture shift in ages.)

How about you? What are you looking forward to right now?

Because of weather predicted in Pennsylvania, where Rudi coaches skiing on the weekend, we decided the smart idea was for him to spend Saturday night out there, rather than making the trip back to D.C. in what could have been treacherous conditions.

That, of course, meant I had even a few more hours to fill myself.

I did not have to fill it all myself, of course. Yesterday, Sarah and I met up for milkshakes (and lunch) at Ted’s Bulletin. Sarah opted for a more traditional burger and fries, while I was delighted to discover they’d not yet sold out of the mythical cinnamon rolls they billed as being “as big as your head.” I’d always wondered if that was hyperbole. I’m here to tell you it’s not:

That’s a dinner plate, folks, and the icing arrived in a gravy boat. I made it around that first outer ring yesterday at the restaurant, through part of the second as a late-night snack, and finished it off as brunch today. Not surprisingly, I was very excited to eat some vegetables this evening.

Sarah was not the only one to take pity on my lonely existence. Susan and Phillip invited me over early this evening to hang out with them and their children. We read stories, built train tracks, and caught up on things.

I also filled my time with reading from Signed, Sealed, Delivered and Neil Patrick Harris’ Choose Your Own Autobiography, the format of which was so diverting that it caused my metro stop to disappear. (I swear I looked up, noticed I only had one more stop to go, got off at it, and discovered it was the stop after where I needed to be.) I knit a little on my cowl, although less than I wanted to. However, as it turns out, there may be an error in the pattern, so a lack of progress was less devastating than it might have been otherwise.

I broke in a new lounging cardigan. It’s a long, oatmeal-colored hoodie made of cotton and cashmere that I picked up on Friday (along with a new pair of pj’s) at a deep, deep discount from TJ Maxx. One of the nice things about knitting is that I know how much yarn costs, and let’s just say I got a really good deal.

I spent quite a bit of Saturday night on Netflix. I discovered a couple episodes of Leverage I’d somehow missed over the years; started a new series, The Fosters, about a two-mom house and the brood of children living with them (biological, adopted, and foster); and Rent, which, in retrospect, was a poor choice for a winter night on my own. (On a related note, I bought more tissues today.)

I went to the farmers market, the highlight of which was frozen raspberries that I have not yet decided what I’m going to do with. I may save them for something birthday’ish next month.

I took myself on a nearly 6-mile walkabout, stopping by the library to pick up Ms. Marvel along the way and enjoying the nice weather. (We did not get any of the snow that hit the northeast yesterday, and by today it was 50.)

This evening, Rudi helped me get the bin out of the closet I’m hoping to relocate the ornament boxes into. That process prompted a bit of an organizing/cleaning spree for both of us, so putting the ornaments away will have to wait for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with him then.

Weekending along with Pumpkin Sunrise.

My weekend is formal-plan-free, so I’m hoping to get a few things accomplished:

• Saturday is Reading Day, so I’m hoping to get in a few chapters.
• I’d also like to make some progress on that cowl I’m test knitting.
• There is a mountain of laundry around the house that needs doing, so it’d be nice to put a dent in that.
• While I took the ornaments off the tree last weekend, they did not get put back in their boxes, so that needs to happen. Since I also didn’t pull the container out of the closet that I hope will hold the ornament boxes, it’d be nice to take care of that, too.
• I’m hoping to get together with Sarah at some point.
• A trip to the Georgetown library is in order, since Ms. Marvel awaits!

Today’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Things I’m Happy about Right Now:

1. The orchids my uncle sent me the birthday before he died are still alive. One has three flowers and fresh growth, and a second has buds that ought to reveal themselves before my birthday next month.
2. I checked around before I hopped on the Southwest fare my mother let me know about. I found a flight that leaves from the airport five miles from my house (rather than an hour away) for less money.
3. I’m heading to see my folks for a long weekend in a couple weeks.
4. I figured out a new-to-me stitch (with help from commentary from my fellow test-knitters) without having to bug the designer.
5. We took the Christmas tree out last night and they were picked up for recycling by the city today.
6. My hair is long enough to wear in two pigtails.
7. My knees don’t feel 40 while I’m playing volleyball and don’t start until after I’m home. (They still feel fine now, but I know they’ll remind me of their age tomorrow.)
8. Rudi made crepes for dinner.
9. My tank top is soft and sparkly.
10. The last few days’ weather has been pleasantly warm. I sat out in the sunshine yesterday at a cafe, reading and knitting, and today when I ran out for a sandwich, I didn’t bother with a coat.

How about you? What’s making you happy right now?

This week has been… well, it’s been unproductive. I’m hoping that this weekend will include some sleep, which certainly couldn’t hurt my chances of improving upon it next week.

I’m hoping to get a bunch of things done this weekend, in addition to the sleeping:

• Enjoy the last few days of our Christmas tree. I’ve been really impressed at how supple it’s remained, holding onto its needles and continuing to look pretty as it crosses the six-week mark tomorrow since we cut it.
• Soak up sunshine. I desperately need to spend some time in the light. Tomorrow and Monday’s forecasts look clear, with Monday’s looking warmer. Tomorrow I may seek out a sunny window, but Monday should definitely include some outdoor time.
• Make use of the rainy day. Sunday is looking gloomy, but I need to spend some quality time indoors getting stuff done. That would be a really ideal time to tackle some overdue chores.
• Work on my new knitting project.
• Wind some yarn.
• Finish a book. (I have five actively in-progress. It’d be nice to move at least one of those to the completed pile.)
• Book a plane ticket. I want to see my family next month and there’s a fare sale on Southwest.
• Get the bin out of my side of the closet and empty it. The fake milk crate we used to store half our Christmas ornaments in broke the day of our holiday party and has been thrown away. This bin is large, annoys me, and takes up valuable real estate in my closet. Moving it to the other closet will fix my problem, but I know it’s going to raise some fit issues there, too.
• Get caught up on my journaling class and my beta reading.
• Make Restaurant Week reservations.
• Look for a new pair of jeans. (Most of mine are no longer work-appropriate and I’d like to fix that.)
• Write my reading wrap-up post for 2014 — and publish it.

It’s a three-day weekend for us, so the odds of getting some of those things accomplished are good.

What’s on your weekend to-do list?

Some of the things I’m hoping to do this weekend:

• Meet Sarah for lunch.
• Visit the library.
• Read.
• Register for a class.
• Do laundry.
• Buy presents.
• Start a new knitting project.
• Go for a walk.
• Make lasagna.
• Take part in a Twitter chat.
• Phone a friend.
• Catch up the day of journaling work I’m behind on.

Actually, that sounds like a pretty good weekend, all things considered. Here’s hoping I get most of it done! What about you? What do you hope your weekend includes?