happiness – doesitstillholdupdotcom

Whachu doin’?
Nothing chillin’ at the Holidae In
Who you wit?
Me and my peeps, won’t you bring four of your friends
What we gon’ do?
Feel on each other and sip on some Hen
One thing leading to another let the party begin- Chingy

I’m going to be honest, there were like 5 different choices of lyrics that I wanted to use and it was super hard for me to pick, but I’m proud of my choice.

When I was younger, in my tween ages, birthday parties were all the rage. Especially birthdays that made you feel older. Whether it was a boy/girl party or a spa day, the most epic of the choices was the hotel party!

Hotel Party Definition: a group of 8-14 of your closest girlfriends and you pile into a hotel room, swim at the pool, order room service, jump on the beds, dance in your pjs, stay up way too late and usually talk about boys and the biggest current trends in pop culture. It’s basically just a party in a hotel.

Hotel parties didn’t just come around for birthday parties, we also did them for class trips and other events. Those were an even bigger thrill because it felt like we were breaking the rules and having too much fun during school. Plus you got to use the phone to talk to the other hotel rooms. Oh man if your crush was on the other line, that story lasted for the next month.

1. Hotel party with my cousins at age 13 2. Birthday getaway with friends at age 16

I only have positive memories from my hotel parties growing up. They actually pretty vivid in my mind still. So when I recently had an opportunity to go to a wedding in New York with a bunch of my college friends, the idea of sharing a hotel, had all those memories rushing back to me.

We got to the hotel and it was 6 of us staying in the room. First big change from being kid, there were boys staying in our room! If I was 12, could you imagine the freak out! Well I’m 27 now, and these guys are some of my oldest friends, so the excitement was much different then it would have been back then.

This was also a mini reunion. Some of these people I hadn’t seen in 6 years. So that added another element of fun! Some things were totally the same as back in the day, like jumping around on the beds, dancing to music, even the same music! The Backstreet Boys forever! Everything in the beginning was super fun! Also there was endless drinking, which always makes things more exciting, amiright??

After the wedding, and the after party and the after after party, it was time to retire back to the room. I decided in my drunken state, to be nice and sleep on the floor since we have a full room. Big mistake for my future hungover self. My back hurt so bad the next day! I seriously have no idea how we fit all of those kids in one room when I was younger. Six was for sure our limit in this room. Also waking up in a room with a bunch of people, when all you want is to be by yourself in your own room sleeping the day away, it’s a little rough to keep the smile on your face. Luckily, I love all these people and being with them was nonstop fun so that feeling was lost pretty quickly.

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Hotel Party for Wedding, age 27

One other con, is that we had to pay with our own money for the room. Man I miss my free ride a.k.a childhood. Admittedly, it only cost us about $40 each since so many of us were sharing the room. So like no big deal, but still.

So does it still hold up??

Here’s the thing. Doing anything with your friends that seems like a vacation is fun. A break from life is the best. Though, as you get older, things aren’t always as easy breezy as they were when you were a kid. I would recommend, that you only do a hotel party with the amount of people who can fit in the beds comfortably because the floor isn’t what is use to be. Also bring a lot of aspirin for the next morning. Planning ahead is super important in these situations because there is only ONE BATHROOM. I think that’s something people always forget.

It’s funny because when you are a kid, you want to do so many “adult things” to seem cool. And then once you actually get to the point of doing these things, some are just as you pictured they would be. Hotel Parties are awesome! Do yourself a favor, and the next time you think you need a vacation but feel like you can’t afford a real one, just get a hotel in the town over with a few friends. Then have a relaxing night in, full of dancing, jumping and laughing because you’ll get the battery recharge you need. I promise you that!

So if you wanna come to my hotel
All you gotta do is holla at me
We still havin a after-party
Checkin out six in the mornin- Cassidy feat. R. Kelly

Had to sneak one more in, sorry!

Man oh man! I honestly feel like I was a queen at building forts when I was younger. I made them my home for the whole day! I brought everything that was important to me inside like my books, favorite clothes, coloring books, beanie babies, pogs… Like my whole room. Forts were the way to live. Having to crawl to get inside. Making rooms inside by putting a pillow in-between. Using chairs for doors. It made me think I could totally survive in the wildness forever. So I decided to challenge myself with building a fort, and not just any fort, my first by myself! I know, making big moves as a 27 year old. This is the first time I haven’t had to share a fort with anyone. It’s all mine! I decided to invite my cat to come in too because she’s a cat and she honestly makes the rules so that was that.

About my Fort:

I have always wanted to build a teepee fort out of sheets with twinkle lights, decorations, movie screenings, snacks and the coziest pillows and blankets. So today I did. I am currently writing this post from my amazing fort now! I WISH I could leave it up forever because I have never felt more at home. My materials have improved since my last fort. I don’t have to bring all the chairs in the house to one room. I have push pins! Yup that’s right! Something to note when building a fort as an adult is the height is more important than ever! You need space or else your head is going to knock the ceiling and your life will come crashing down on top of you. I took my sheets, push pined them into the ceilings to make a large circle. Teepee set! Then I used a bunch of twinkle lights and hung them from the top of the sheets, creating a fun but kind of a terrible representation of a spider web. Then I took a canvas banner I had and hung it up top to give this place some style! I brought all 12 pillows I have on my bed, inside. Set up my computer, popped myself some popcorn, made a glass of kool-aid and crawled inside about 4 hours ago. I have no plans to leave here anytime soon either.

Oh my god, no joke. JUST now my cat just pulled one of the pushpins out trying climb the fort and part of it just caved in. But you know what? I think it made it even better! I feel like I just crawled deeper into my cave and am as snug as can be. I’m realizing now that forts are like art and there truly is no way to mess them up! This is the best!

My time in the fort:

After my cat and I found our spots inside, we sat back, ate our popcorn and pressed play. We ended up watching the classic film The Rugrats Movie. I wanted to make this experience as youthful as possible and boy, did it hit home. That movie is pretty great still. I also read some of my book, played with my cat and took a little nap! And now I am currently writing this blog. Endless fun y’all. It’s been such a great Sunday!

Comparisons:

My forts are never and will never be visually pleasing to the eye from the outside. I need to accept that. They look like a mess no matter what. The inside how ever is magical and will always be magical. This place is mine and it honestly makes me feel like I’m taking a much needed break from life. I haven’t been this happy in a long time. It’s like the perfect stay vacation because it’s still your house but it is like a new room you’ve never explored. Your nerves are still pretty high anytime you touch the walls of the fort though. Like it all could come crashing down at any moment and now that I’m older, I don’t know how much time I would be willing to put in to rebuilding. But that just adds to the excitement. This fort took me about 45 mins to make but I wanted it to be perfect for me. I think I might have tried a little harder than when I was a kid. Better for it!

SO DOES IT STILL HOLD UP?

Heck yes it does! Do this! Make yourself a fort next weekend! Give yourself a day! Make it your own and enjoy your break! This is your own little paradise and anyone can do it. I think I’m going to make this a monthly thing for myself. I think we all should. It’s like a therapy tool that you never knew you needed. Get some twinkle lights though. It only makes it better! Now get to building!