Oh, how I loved (and hated) middle school. Today on twitter, #middleschoolmemories is a trending topic. I mainly thought of hard tail skirts and plastic bracelets as my #middleschoolmemories but there are some other ones that floating around that are very, very true. Week long relationships? Yes. The ban on heelys? Yes. Middle school seemed so long ago but reading all of these #middleschoolmemories tweets definitely makes me nostalgic for the times when everything was just so much easier.

Here’s the twenty #middleschoolmemories tweets that really stood out for me:

initiating the gallery...

Ashley is a freshman at George Washington University and she’s majoring in Overanalyzing Situations and International Affairs. Follow her on twitter @ashleybrooks25

There was a period of time in our childhoods when we were old enough to start thinking boys were cute, but not old enough to read Tiger Beat and fawn over the shirtless foldouts of Leonardo DiCaprio. During this time, we developed crushes on the characters from our favorite cartoons.

Let’s look back on out favorite cartoon cuties from the 90′s… Read More »

Doesn’t growing up suck?

It’s like when I turned 21, I had reached the point in my life where I stopped telling everyone that I couldn’t wait to grow up, and instead started looking for ways to roll the clock back on my years.

The holidays only make it worse for me. Instead of screaming from excitement because Santa brought me the Polly Pocket that I wanted, I now stare into the pit of my stocking where my mom put socks for me. Socks. The worst part of it all? I asked her to get me socks. Because I needed them. Because when you get old, practicality trumps pretend.

If you’re feeling a little down in the dumps about your age these days, don’t worry, it’s just seasonal depression. But seriously, with the holidays rolling in and your Christmas list looking a little slim, there’s nothing that’ll make you feel as young as a trip down memory lane with snapshots of the exciting, play-pretend kid you used to be.

So, go on, put your feet up on the table – because you’re the only grownup in the room that cares – and while you’re at it, pour yourself a big glass of wine. Because if you’ve got to be old, you might as well be old and buzzed. Read More »

As kids, we were constantly being taught right from wrong by our parents. Growing up, we knew that we had to clean up after ourselves, always say “please” and “thank you,” and not to talk to strangers. But how many of these lessons did we forget after elementary school? Somewhere between adolescence and teenagedom we got rid of our childhood lessons in order to make room for Cosmo knowledge. But there are key lessons we learned as youngsters that we should bring back into our lives now. Read More »

Whenever I babysit, I can’t help but be surprised by what kids play with these days. They have so many Hannah Montana dolls, Angry Birds figurines, and other “so-right-now” toys that I don’t even recognize. So many of toys from when we were young would be completely unidentifiable to kids these days.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane to reminisce over our childhood favorites.

Read More »

If I could go to a Bat Mitzvah every weekend for the rest of my life, I would. Those were the glory days. Personalized everything, sundae bars, extremely awful DJs, and everyone in their pubescent splendor.

You remember: it’s 7th grade. You have braces. Low by Lil John is playing and you’re doing your best imitation of Beyonce in the Crazy In Love music video. You’re most likely wearing a fold over skirt and Tiffany’s bracelet (imitation or real). Suddenly Low finishes and Heaven by DJ Sammy, Candlelight Mix, comes on. Everyone’s pairing off to awkwardly sway with one another, about three feet apart. But suddenly you notice there’s no line for the photo booth and it’s either now or never. This dilemma was a weekly thing in middle school.

Read More »

When I was 10 I used to lock myself in my room and play Barbie for hours. Sometimes it ended in drastic haircuts, other times marriages, but usually with someone’s head being popped off. Although I had a lot of respect for a girl who could rock one of my many failed attempts at an early “Rachel,” I had to admit I was a little jealous. Don’t worry, as a grown up I don’t pop people’s heads off if I’m jealous…I just blink my eyes until they disappear.

Jealous of what you may ask…. her perfect body? No. Her pent house? Not quite. Her unending supply of friends? For any lonely girl in the suburbs probably, but not this one. I was jealous of the whole package. The lifestyle, the glamorous parties I would make her attend, the fact that she never had to change underwear.

All of those hours spent with my (close to) 40 Barbies taught me some life lessons. Or at least things that I should never try or even attempt, ie: taking a walk in Barbie’s shoes. Read More »

Every year older brings new privileges. The obvious perks are voting, drinking, growing boobs and losing our curfews.  However, with these new privileges consequently comes the loss of old privileges. There were many things we took for granted as kids that cause us to look back on our carefree lives and think “I wish I was a kid again.” The obvious childish perks that have left our daily schedules are things like homework and nap time, but here are six more things that we once had as kids but wish we had now. Read More »

A little fun fact for you: Black Friday is already making more headlines this year than Santa Clause.

I planned on going out in my Halloween costume again this weekend to take advantage of all the leftover candy but… who knows what’ll be left since everybody’s already pulling their greys out trying to cut out all the Black Friday 2am, 356^th person in line coupons they can find in the Penny Saver.

Speaking from experience (because last year I had this crazy idea that it would be fun to go Black Friday shopping with my mom and my aunt at two in the morning), Black Friday is about the least enjoyable ‘holiday’ out there. The idea of waking up at that unhappy hour again this year to go stand in line and buy my 26-year-old brother a new tie sounds anything but enjoyable. I would – honestly – rather get the flu shot every hour for 24 hours than go out with all the crazies in the wee hours of the morning.

Then I remember all the Ole Saint Nick believing, milk and cookie leaving, cute-as-hell kid that wakes up on Christmas morning overjoyed that Santa took notes on all the things she asked for. Hell, she didn’t spend 12 months and 24 days being nice to her older brother for no reason now, did she!? Read More »

Isn’t it more fun to talk about holidays after we’ve already celebrated them?

I think so.

Halloween makes us old folk nostalgic for lots of things, like the days where we could roam the streets going door-to-door begging strangers for our favorite kinds of candy wearing strange costumes emulating our favorite TV and movie characters. Yah, Scooby and Shaggy!

Ah, youth: the glory days.

This year I wish I could’ve still begged my neighbors for candy (on Halloween and any old occasion) because I’m sure one of them had an awesome supply hidden in their closet. Unfortunately, the closest I got to some free candy was the creep in the cell next to me offering me his ‘almond joy’. Uh, no thanks.

More important than my candy fixation, Halloween marked the beginning of month long movie-thons. Since you just lived through ABC Family’s 31 days of Halloween tribute, you know all about our favorite Halloween-y flicks!

This month as you’re scanning your TV guide, waiting for the 25 days of Christmas to begin, don’t just scan through your DVR and rewatch all those Halloween-y films! Mix and match them with some of our favorite old school movies in general, and it’s gonna be one awesome night alone on the couch!

Need some recommendations? We’ve outlined nine of our favorite throwback movies; they don’t make them much better than this!

Read More »