Image by Flickr user subsetsum

The weather is finally warming up, Charleston is coming back to life after the post-holiday lull, and it's time to celebrate the gloriousness of the all-mighty weekend.

Let's do this right and start you off with all of Friday's fun. We suggest you take advantage of all of the local restaurant specials that are happening throughout Restaurant Week in Charleston. Tons of top notch restaurants are offering amazing deals on the best food in the Lowcountry. Before heading out to dinner, you can swing by harleston's Young Professional Gay-Straight Alliance happy hour at Vickery's downtown between 6 and 9 p.m. Some other fun out there tonight involves star gazing and politics. The College of Charleston's Department of Physics and Astronomy is holding an open house where you come learn about and gaze at the stars at their rooftop observatory. Across town, The Citadel Republican Society is hosting a public forum this evening allowing each GOP candidate running for governor and lieutenant governor of South Carolina to speak for five minutes during the annual Patriot Dinner.

Saturday has a wide range of events that include the North Charleston Riverfront Race Festival, an independent film festival out in Park Circle and the second annual World Beer Festival in Columbia.

Sunday is looking like a pretty relaxed day, so take it easy and enjoy the sunshine. If you're itching for something to do, you should head out the North Charleston for a Stingrays hockey game. The weekend fans are allowed to bring their dogs to the game for just $5.

The Post and Courier's Preview section has some good suggestion for weekend activities as well - take a look at it right here. We'll hook you up with the other roundups as they come out, so be sure to check back with us.

Update:

The Charleston City Paper has posted their weekend round-up, go take a peek.