Ah, middle school dances. Remember those? Middle school was a time filled with girls who like boys but are taller than them and boys who like girls but are suffering through that awkward I might-be-going-through-puberty-soon stage. A time for “do you like me? check yes or no” notes, relentless bullying as a sign of flirtation, and teachers who are more in tuned with the adolescent gossip than the actual students are. So when you bring all of these elements together for a school dance: the awkward meter skyrockets! As we take a trip down memory lane, let us remember those crucial ingredients needed to concoct the perfect middle school dance.

Read More »

Middle school sucks, hands down. I don’t know anyone who has ever claimed that middle school was the best three years of their life. And if I did know someone who said that, I would also know that they were a pathological liar. Between the ages of 12 and 14, kids are awkwardly trying to adjust to their pubescent bodies. And they have braces. So things are just awkward all around.

And to make things worse, middle school kids are mean. Like, really mean. Name-calling is like eating for middle schoolers–they do it compulsively. Last time I visited my middle school (don’t ask me why I ever went back to that awful place), the halls were plastered with signs telling kids to stop being so mean to each other. Waste of money, obviously. At least they tried.

It will probably never stop, that’s just the middle school MO. But if you thought you were the only one out there getting called chicken legs on the regular, you are oh so wrong. Even celebs got teased when they were kids. Oh you thought they were perfect? Well they are, of course. But they had to be 13 sometime.

Check out these nicknames celebs were teased with when they were younger.

Breathtaking.

Like most people, the years I spent with little metal boxes cemented to my teeth weren’t exactly my best. Not only did those years coincide with my awkward phase (no coincidence there), but my braces also hurt like crazy. And I’m pretty sure I spent 50% of my time in the bathroom picking food shrapnel out of my teeth.

The other 50% of my time was spent smiling for pictures with my lips closed and being thrown into the back of my mom’s minivan for those monthly adjustment appointments (ouch).

And I wasn’t allowed to chew gum or eat popcorn.
Yeah, it’s really not a time I want to relive.

Unless it has to do with other people.

Behold, one of my greatest Internet finds since TFLN:

When I had braces…

This website won’t help you become a better cook or organize your fashion wish lists, but it will make you laugh and that’s all you really need on a Wednesday morning, right? The premise is simple: readers submit their favorite (OK, most awkward) picture of themselves in braces along with a small anecdote about their experience with the little devils. For example, the photo above, which is pretty awesome in its own right but truly magnificent with this little ditty:  “When I had braces straightening irons weren’t yet perfected.” Read More »

Remember when you were 13 and everything seemed like the biggest deal ever and “OMG you are going to die because life is just so bad”? Oh, and you were wearing giant bell bottom jeans and a shirt with a condom pocket on the sleeve? Yeah, those were the days.

Don’t you wish you could hop into a DeLorean and go back and give that girl some (fashion) advice? Maybe a little nugget of wisdom to make those angsty teenage years just a little less angsty? Unfortch, we can’t go back there (or maybe it’s a good thing – I don’t like looking at pictures of myself with that perm, so interacting with it in person would be devastating), but if you could, what would you say?

This week I asked the CollegeCandy team to share their life lessons with their younger selves.
What wisdom would you impart? Read More »

One of the best things about being in college is the plethora of single men at your disposal. I went to a small private school before I stepped foot on my college campus, so the idea that there were thousands of guys that I hadn’t known since birth roaming around made me very, very happy. Finally! People who didn’t know everything about me/everyone I knew/what I looked like during my 8 year awkward phase!

I loved the idea of anonymity and the fact that I could meet a random guy and never have to see him again. It was a sense of freedom I had never quite experienced and one I decided to take full advantage of.

Then I learned one very important lesson: random hook ups in college do not exist.

One particular weekend I went home with a very nice lookin’ boy. He was in a fraternity that none of my friends were in/associated with, which was extremely appealing. We bunked up at his place, had a grand ole time and ended things the next morning with the obligatory phone number exchange (which I immediately removed upon arriving home… I didn’t plan on seeing him again, so why tempt myself during an inevitable drunk dialing situation?). Read More »