The Love List: Middle School Treasures

January 17, 2009 1:00 pm     Posted in Cool Stuff  Jill - University of Wisconsin g+ page

sneaker.jpg[Welcome to my Weekly Love List, a list on all things I love. Because if I love them, well, obviously you may (and should) love them too. As the Backstreet Boys song says (and yes I am actually quoting them) "My Love is All I Have To Give." So with that throwback, here are this week's list-worthy things…]


By Jill

If there is one thing I love, it’s nostalgia. There is nothing better than sitting around with your friends looking at photos of those awful bangs, horrible stirrup leggings and puff painted sweatshirts and reminiching about the days of yore.  So for this week’s LOVE List I thought I would delve back into those scrapbooks and bring you my top 5 childhood LOVES. It’s hard to narrow down to five so let us know what you loved back then too!

1. Platform Jump Shoes. This must-have trend (from Vagabonds to Rebels to Sketchers) were the  gym shoe in my middle school. Obviously worn with your Paris Blues or your ribbed light purple Hard Tails. I thought I was too cool for school in my black and white “gym shoes” (which is ironic since they  were unacceptable for gym class).

2. Beanie Babies. I have a TRUNK of these bad boys sitting in basement because TY had me convinced that my discontinued Garcia Bear would be worth thousands by now. Too bad they are selling on ebay for $5.00. Not only does my lunch costs more than that, it’s less than their original $6.00 price tag. But at the time, Beanie babies were like a hot pair of Manolos on major sale: sold out in stores everywhere,  causing fights by pushy mothers nationwide. For a good two years, there was not a holiday or birthday that went by that someone did not give me a Beanie Baby.

3. JTT. Seriously, there was nothing more exciting than spending my lunch hour trading tear out posters from Teen Beat and Bop magazine. JTT, or for those of you who lived under a rock back in the 90s, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, was just a whole other level. He (and maybe Andrew Keegan) was the ONE and only… until Leonardo Dicaprio went down with the ship, that is.

4. Chupa Chups. I associate Chupa Chups with the Spice Girls and Hanson. Which also brings me back to traumatic memories of a boy haircut and bright purple and teal alternating braces. True story. But those choloate vanilla swirls became the obsession of middle school.

5. The sound of the dial up modem. Don’t get me wrong: I love my fast internet. But there was something about coming home from school, turning on TRL to see the Backstreet Boys and Britney, while that noise (you know EXACTLY what im talking about) dialed up your AOL so you could go into random chatrooms and get in online fights with your friends. (Oh the drama).

15 Comments on "The Love List: Middle School Treasures"

  1. Emily says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20098:20 am 

    I was just watching a rerun of Home Improvement, and I would still jump JTT's bones…

  2. giz says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20099:46 am 

    More like lower school memories.

  3. Jodie says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20091:03 pm 

    Don't forget about Old Navy's oh-so-popular Tech Vests.

  4. Kelly says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20091:46 pm 

    ohhh my gosh tech vests! I haven't thought about those in years. I will forever associate junior high with pastel glitter eyeshadow; purple, blue, silver, pink… everyone wore it. Even me.

  5. Amy says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20093:31 pm 

    that about sums up my middle school time. I couldn’t go without those shoes. I think they’re the reason I have wearing shoes that make me less than an 2 inches taller…

  6. Ashley says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20094:07 pm 

    Hahah! Paris Blues! I loved their bell bottoms in elementary school… and I had a whole case of Spice Girl's Chupa Chups. And don't forget the glitter pens that everyone had, but teachers would never let you use!

  7. Lauren, University o says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20094:26 pm 

    GEL pens. Those were awesome. So was old navy performance fleece (Old Navy, Old Navy, Old Navy performance fleece!).

    Oh and we much never forget 98 degrees. I saw them on the All That Music And More Tour.

    I'm so cool.

  8. Ellie says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20094:44 pm 

    my house still had aol dialup as of last month…hahaha

  9. Emily says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 20096:19 pm 

    I still have a collection of gel pens from back in the day. I also remember when the "popular" thing was to wear body glitter on your eyelids or on your temples. Wow.

  10. Alice says:
    Sat, 17th Jan 200911:41 pm 

    What about Lisa Frank stationery?

    Or "hair mascara", where you'd go to your school disco with colored stripes in your hair?

    Also, Emily, I know EXACTLY what you mean about wearing glitter on your temples!

  11. Sara C - Fordham says:
    Sun, 18th Jan 20097:21 am 

    Oh man what a blast from the past! I do know exactly what you mean about the AOL modem and friend-chats. So aggravating then, so hilarious now.

    And what about butterfly hair clips? I just found a bunch in a drawer and I wonder what possessed any of us to think they were attractive (but you know I rocked them 24/7).

  12. Jill says:
    Sun, 18th Jan 20098:22 am 

    ah I love these all! loved the gel pens- I was QUEEN of both the bra strap headband and butterfly clips- where you would section your hair back and make it look like a headband- oy.

    and that reminds me of hard candy nail polish- where you would paint each nail and different pastel color?!

    and lipsmackers?! slapbracelets?! the list could go on and on and on.

  13. Emily says:
    Sun, 18th Jan 20098:25 am 

    I, too, was a victim of the butterfly hairclips.

  14. Taylor says:
    Sun, 18th Jan 20099:47 am 

    I still have dial up internet.

  15. Leena says:
    Mon, 19th Jan 20093:52 am 

    ahahaha!! hahahahaahaha!! hahaha oh man i am loving the last one.. i can hear that dial up sound clear as day in my own head right now as if it were happening right in front of me. youre right it was a disturbingly satisfying/exciting noise… except when it would happen over and over again because AOL was too busy to connect.. that was enough to bring a middle school girl to tears rt there

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