Cheers To A New Year - 2026 Edition 🎆

Date: Wednesday 12/31/2025

Event: New Years Eve at Hard Rock

It's 2026! Huzzah!

My family has never been the type to really celebrate New Years so naturally I just do whatever the fuck I want. To kick off 2025 last year, the day before New Years Eve I impulsively accepted Cole's offer to spend NYE in Kentucky. This year, we weren't sure to spend it on the other coast of FL or in KY again. South Florida won because I wasn't trying to party in 7 degree weather.

It was kind of perfect because Isa (my friend from high school) lives in Davie and had no plans. She also happens to live 15 minutes away from the Hard Rock Casino. Cole and I are two people who love partying and gambling so what better place to kick off the new year.

I ended up taking a half day on the 31st, ran 5 miles, and then we were off to Ft Lauderdale by 330PM. Our conversation was a mix of everything on the way there but it made time fly super fast. Before we made it to Isa's though we picked up some items for breakfast the next morning, something light for the pregame, and pizza to prep our stomachs for the night ahead of us!

Since Isa (high school friend) and Jason (Isa's fiance) had never met Cole (college friend) it was a casual introduction over dinner. After dinner, Isa and I started the process to get ready in which I brought a bag full of clothes because neither of us had a clue on what to wear. It literally took us probably like an hour and a half just to figure out what we wanted to wear. 

We left slightly after 9PM and ended up going to to DAER, the club in Hard Rock. Originally we purchased tickets for the dayclub but the door for the nightclub was wide open so we just walked in with no problems and the nightclub was like $60 more than the dayclub for whatever reason. Either way we had about 2.5 hours left of the open bar when we arrived that came with our tickets. 

I would like to think I take open bars pretty serious not because I'm an alcoholic but due to the fact that you are saving money the more you drink. So the goal was to have a drink every 10 minutes but it was more like every 15 minutes. Although by the 3rd drink, the bartender remembered our drink order so we would just walk up and she would be like "vodka diet?" and we shake our heads yes. We definitely had to tip her for that reason.

The music was sooo good at the club, it was a mix of pop songs everyone knew and could sing to but also house and dance music. Throughout the first 2 hours I would turn to Cole though and say that neither of us were drunk enough but by the last 30 minutes before midnight I was feeling great. Then the clock struck midnight to kick off 2026! I was in no position to kiss anybody so it was just Isa and Jason kissing and then Cole and I were like a pair of the standing emojis (🧍🏽‍♀️🧍🏼‍♂️). Definitely a head scratch moment like what the fuck do we do but after that the music went offff. The DJs came out and I kind of don't remember the rest of the time. I don't think I was messy but the alcohol content plus the overstimulating environment with the lights, music, and effects made me momentarily forget everything.

That was just for the remaining time in the club though. I remember walking from the nightclub to the casino while consuming an ungodly amount of cigarettes. Which deciding to go to the casino post drinking with a hazy brain was not the best idea on my behalf. I sat at two of the slot machines max and lost all of the $60 I put in. Last time I won money but this time I truly sat down and just continuously hit the button whereas previously I was pretty strategic (then again I was definitely more sober).

Post me losing my money, we walked over to McDonald's to get something small to munch on and order the Uber back to Isa's and Jason's. I remember STRUGGLING with the McDonald's app but I managed to order a McChicken and a small fry. I am not sure if I slept on the way back but I don't remember the Uber back nor walking to the apartment. 

Woke up on the air mattress the next morning with one hour of sleep according to my Garmin. My intention was to run but I knew in no way was it going to productive so I chose to skip it. Stayed awake and went through my messages, scrolled through tinder, and kinda just caught up on everything for 2-3 hours before anybody else got up. Isa walked Lily (Isa's dog) and she found the other half of my McChicken on the hallway floor which was hilarious because they thought I had eaten it last night and had forgotten when I mentioned that half of my sandwich was missing. Jason made us avocado toast and strawberry protein lattes (which tasted phenomenal and would highly recommend having espresso with CorePower strawberry milk) and we left shortly after 1PM. Overall memorable NYE, so here's a cheers to 2026 and the other great memories to come.