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Sugarhouse Casino presents Twice the Fireworks! Twice the Fun! Fireworks tonight, 6 p.m. and midnight along the Delaware River.
(Photo by G. Widman for GPTMC)

What a skyline… and those fireworks aren’t bad either.

Still unsure how to celebrate tonight? We help you nail down your New Year’s Eve plans here.

Have a great holiday weekend; we’ll be back on Monday morning.

Here’s to a fabulous 2010 and even more fabulous 2011!

Rue La La, of the motto: “Most Wanted Brands. Private Sale Prices. Ooh La Love!,” unveiled an exclusive Philadelphia edition of the website this week.

Rue Philadelphia offers members (registration for the service is free) discounts on Philadelphia’s most coveted brands. A daily email will also feature one “Rue Philadelphia Pick,” showcasing a one-of-a-kind, 24-hour offer from restaurants, bars, salons, spas, and exclusive events at up to 70% off retail prices.

The first Rue Philadelphia offering is from Sampan, celebrity Chef Michael Schulson’s restaurant.

We just browsed the site, and examples of other local vendors extending offers include Tierra Mia Organic Nail Spa and Sweat Fitness. National brands offering steep sale prices include Calvin Klein, the Hyatt Regency in Lake Tahoe and Kate Spade home decor.

Rue Philadelphia is Rue La La’s third city-specific expansion of Rue Local; Rue Boston and Rue Seattle launched earlier in 2010.

Rue Philadelphia [Official Site]

Tomorrow night puts the period at the end of 2010′s sentence. So lest “auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind…” we want to extend our appreciation for a fantastic year, both for Philadelphia and uwishunu.

Below we look back at some uwishunu highlights from 2010. But before we do that, we wanted to take a quick peek ahead at 2011.

2011 will be uwishunu’s 5th year and we’re super excited for it. Not only will we be rolling out lots of new and freshly packaged content, but we’ve also got some appearance tune-ups in the works.

And all of this is done with you in mind. We want to make uwishunu as useful to you as possible. So continue to let us know what you think, what you want to see more of, etc. We love hearing from you; you can get in touch with us with tips, suggestions, events, and/or contribution ideas at tips@uwishunu.com.

Meanwhile — for Philadelphia at large — 2011 promises to be even more action-packed and record-making than this year.

For a sneak peek of what’s to come, from the Phillies to the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s marquee exhibitions, see below. PLUS, just for fun, we’ve included our top 10 most viewed posts from 2010.

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Sugarhouse Casino presents Twice the Fireworks! Twice the Fun! Fireworks shows on New Year's Eve, 6 p.m. and midnight.
(Photo by G. Widman for GPTMC)

New Year’s Eve, tomorrow night, is just the start of a weekend’s worth of activity. You have your accommodations nailed down — the two-night, New-Year’s-Eve-Weekend Philly Overnight® Hotel Package made that a cinch — but what about your itinerary?

Check out our top picks for the whole holiday weekend below:

Friday, New Year’s Eve

• We’ve outlined your options for celebrating the conclusion of 2010 in full. Start with SugarHouse Casino presents Twice the Fireworks! Twice the Fun!, two fireworks shows at 6 p.m. and midnight, and take it from there. Check out our full New Year’s Eve guide here.

Saturday, New Year’s Day

• 111th Annual Mummers Parade
• Free New Year’s Day Celebration at the Kimmel Center
• Fancy Brigades shows at the Pennsylvania Convention Center
• New Year’s Eve educational celebration at the National Constitution Center
• Screening of the sing-along version of The Sound of Music at World Cafe Live
• Enchanted Colonial Village at the Please Touch Museum
• Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt at The Franklin Institute — Closing Weekend!
• Brunch starting at 11 a.m. at XIX (Nineteen) at the Bellevue (along the Mummers parade route!)
• $1 Oysters and $5 Champagne from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Pub & Kitchen
• Hair of The Dog Brunch at Supper from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. — Dogs welcome!
• Seafood brunch at Oyster House, starting at 11:30 a.m.

Sunday

• Cirque du Soleil:Dralion at Temple University’s Liacouras Center — Closing Weekend!
• Longwood Gardens Christmas
• Narcissus in the Studio: Artist Portraits and Self-Portraits at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts — Closing Weekend!
• Liberty 360, 3-D film adventure, at the Historic Philadelphia Center
• Eagles vs. Cowboys regular season finale at 4:15 p.m.

In a battle of Big 5 basketball powerhouses, the Temple Owls will head a few miles down the road to Villanova for a match-up between two nationally ranked teams — who happen to be storied rivals.

Both schools have started the season strong — Villanova has won all but one of their 11 games so far and Temple already beat a top ranked opponent when they defeated Georgetown earlier this season.

Throw in the fierce competitiveness of a typical Big 5 battle, and this game is a “can’t miss” for Philly hoops fans.

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. at The Pavilion at Villanova and the game is being nationally televised on ESPN 2.

Big 5 Basketball: Villanova vs. Temple
When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Where: The Pavilion at Villanova
Cost: Tickets are sold-out. The game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN 2.

Temple has something to prove against Villanova [Philadelphia Inquirer]

It’s the final week of the blockbuster exhibition Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt at The Franklin Institute.

Through Sunday, January 2nd, the final day, the exhibit will be open with extended hours until 8:30 p.m. Also take advantage of a 30% discount on Egyptian merchandise in the Franklin’s Sci-Store.

Plus: the Franklin Institute is offering free parking on New Year’s Day to all Cleopatra ticket-holders.

Tickets are available online.

Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt
The Franklin Institute
222 N. 20th Street
cleopatra.visitphilly.com

Kick off 2011 with the Mummers Parade.
(Photo by R. Kennedy for GPTMC)

After a night of glass-clinking, fireworks-watching and general merrymaking, why not keep the party going?

Check out our top picks for how to spend New Year’s Day:

• 111th Annual Mummers Parade

• Free New Year’s Day Celebration at the Kimmel Center

• Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt at the Franklin Institute — Closing Weekend!

• New Year’s Celebration at the National Constitution Center

• Brunch starting at 11 a.m. at XIX (Nineteen) at the Bellevue (along the Mummers parade route!)

• $1 Oysters and $5 Champagne from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Pub & Kitchen

• Screening of the sing-along version of The Sound of Music at World Cafe Live

• Enchanted Colonial Village at the Please Touch Museum

• Hair of The Dog Brunch at Supper from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. — Dogs welcome!

• Seafood brunch at Oyster House, starting at 11:30 a.m.

Les Misérables, Cameron Mackintosh’s new 25th anniversary production of Boublil & Schönberg’s legendary musical, hits the Academy of Music stage January 4th through 15th.

With glorious new staging and spectacular scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo, this new production is breaking box office records wherever it goes.

Dates, times and tickets are available online.

Les Misérables
When: January 4th-15th
Where: Academy of Music, 1420 Locust Street
Cost: Tickets start at $20
More info: www.kimmelcenter.org

Christmas is eco-friendly this year, with many options for recycling Christmas trees.

You can choose to support more than 20 local civic and nonprofit organizations that are working together to have trees chipped and reused to beautify local dog runs, community gardens and parks.

To help, recycle your tree at one of 8 designated drop-off locations (below) in a neighborhood near you on Saturday, January 8th, and Sunday, January 9th. Trees should be free of all decorations and untied, and not brought to the site in plastic bags.

Check out drop-off locations and times:

Saturday, January 8th

Fishtown/Olde Richmond: Under I-95 Dog Park behind Port Richmond Shopping Center; 9 a.m. to noon

East Kensington: Southwest corner of E. Dauphin and Emerald, across from the Emerald Street Urban Farm; 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

South Philadelphia: Columbus Square Park at 13th and Reed Streets; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Northern Liberties: Orianna Hill Dog Park on the 900 block of N. 3rd Street, across from Liberty Lands; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday, January 9th

Logan Square: Boy Scouts Building Parking Lot at 22nd and Winter Streets; 9 a.m. to noon

Mt. Airy: Next to Gabbies Garden at Chew Avenue near Mt. Airy Avenue; 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Fairmount: Eastern State Penitentiary at 22nd and Brown Streets; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

University City: Clark Park at 43rd and Chester streets; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A $5 donation is suggested to help defray the costs.

There are even more treecycling options below.

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Only two Nutcracker performances remain. (Photo by B. Krist for GPTMC)

The Pennsylvania Ballet concludes its 42nd year of the holiday tradition George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the Academy of Music with a 2 p.m. performance tomorrow, Thursday, and a noon performance Friday.

The Nutcracker is one of the most poignant holiday traditions, made special to Philadelphia by our own elite dancers (currently featured in the film Black Swan) and historic Academy theater. Don’t miss it.

Tickets are available online.

Pennsylvania Ballet’s The Nutcracker
www.paballet.org

Academy of Music
1420 Locust Street
www.academyofmusic.org