42

Yes, it's the answer to life.

Yes, its some answer to the universe too.

Everyone I know who's watched, read, or heard of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has informed me THIS will be the year.  I can't go wrong.

We'll see.

When HikerGirl was 42 she said it was her "21 again" birthday. I'm stealing that from her. The MomUnit told me its the anniversary of my 21st birthday. So, I'm 21 again - which means....?

You got it...a year of doing 21 new things.

You might remember a couple years back I did 40 new things for my 40th birthday.  40 was a hard number to get to.  21 is doable.  I've already started planning since 2011 is just a hop, skip, and a shot away.

Last night was the big day though.  I spent some time at the office, but a stinkin snow storm came in and I flew the coup at about 10.  I spent the rest of the day cozy on my couch with the cat near by and my laptop on my lap, quietly and serenely finishing up some work items.

Promptly at 5pm the party began. I had chosen a 70's theme this year.  Which for me went straight to disco. 

Yes sir, that there is a disco ball.  One of my bosses found it while we were out to lunch shopping for party supplies.  I thought I'd hang it from my chandelier in my dining room. Only to get home and remember I don't have a chandelier in my dining room.  Let being 42 begin.

I requested from my guests to bring their favorite 70's appetizer.  I, myself, couldn't think of too many 70's appetizers and found myself doing cheese fondue.  I also made little smokies with BBQ sauce, and a nice big cheese ball. 

There were many pigs. And many of them came in a blanket.  We had many, many Pigs in a Blanket - apparently also popular in the 70's.  We had mini quiches and we had these funky fake sausage and cream cheese filled little bite size peppers. I had a couple and they were pretty darn good for 1) being and pepper and 2) fake sausage.

Let's see what else...oh yah...

 We had Bugles, Deviled Eggs, Hawaiian Punch and CANNED CHEESE....

Who knew you could fill a Bugle with canned cheese? I didn't. BigBro showed me how and it was all down hill from there.  It's pretty darn tasty.  Canned cheese used to make an appearance at our summer volleyball tournaments. It was a great source of sodium and quick food.  We had to make a game out of it though and started "Cheese Art".  We got pretty creative and I sure wish I had my camera for some of them.

Did you know that canned cheese is an excellent source of calcium? Me neither. In fact reading the ingredients it doesn't sound as bad for you as one might assume.  If one wanted to assume.

We aren't sure what happened here. BigBro squeezed the cheese into a Bugle and we had "BUGLE ART".

I decided to make Harvy Wallbangers as the drink du jour.  I had no idea what was in a Harvy Wallbanger, but Google helped me with that. Or, oops, I mean Bing - I do, after all work for Hotel Californiasoft.  Anyhow, a Harvy Wallbanger is nothing more than vodka, orange juice and Galliano - which I found is expensive so we went with the generic brand.  Turns out, just as good.

And last but not least, we had cupcakes. Of course.

Lots ....

  and lots...

Of cupcakes. 

I cheated and bought cake mix. And I bought the canned frosting. Turns out, canned frosting was introduced in the 70's. So indirectly I kept with the theme.

The snow stopped some of the usual suspects from venturing out. I won't hold it against them this year.  We still had several of the usual suspects show up to make it a party.

Claudia gets the award for the most god-awful 70's outfit.  You can't tell, but the shimmering outfit under the orange long vest is a one piece polyester jumper. 

Of course the Not so Newlyweds were there...Mrs. NSNW was being just a bit odder than normal.  But lucky for her and me, I like odd.

I'm glad to get to see Mr. NSMW. I rarely see him anymore.  They didn't bring the cutest baby in the world to this event...I think they wanted a "date" night. They were forgiven. This time.

Claudia, GalPal Lyn and me. Lyn has on this funky crocheted vest that was very 70's - so she gets second prize.  She gets first prize for making me laugh so hard my sides hurt.

Don't ya just dig the 70's looking action I used on these photos? Its like a blast to the past.

Of course Blueberry was there. What would a birthday be without your BFF?

BigBro and Seattle SIL were also on hand to help celebrate. They were responsible for the Bugles, Hawaiian punch and canned cheese.  First prize to them for most creative food.

As you can see...we had fun.

We spent a good portion of the evening reminiscing about the 70's. And between us all we came up with food, games, TV shows, drinks, candy, etc from the 70's. I kinda wish I would have had my brain about me to write them down. But alas, I did not. Besides  my hands were full. One had a drink while the other had a Bugle filled with canned cheese.

In the end, despite Mother Nature's attempt to make me cancel my birthday, we had a blast.  This particular group of people are among my most favoritest of all.  They all have such unique personalities and they all play well with others - most the time.  I'm blessed to have such a great group of friends.

So here's to Year 42 (which is actually my 43rd year).  Its going to be great!  Its going to be full. Its going to be groovy. 

And yes, those are disco ball dilly bobbers on my head. Thanks for asking.