#5-Saved by the Bell

I have a morning ritual of watching double episodes of Saved by the Bell at 8:00 and 8:30 on TBS. The acting is horrible. The story lines are cheesy. The clothes are horrendously out of style. But I love it!

I love it, because it reminds me of watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, starting bright and early at 8:00 and then ending the morning with a 10:00 episode of Saved by the Bell.

I idolized all the actors on Saved by the Bell, and was mortified at some their work post-Saved by the Bell. Like when Tiffany Amber Theissen came back on the scene to play the slutty bitch, Valerie Malone, in 90210. I could never see her as anything but Kelly Kapowski, the bubbly, innocent cheerleader from Bayside.

The ultimate betrayal of character though was Elizabeth Berkley, who played Jessi Spano, the feminist, over-achiever. She left "Saved by the Bell", and committed career suicide when she played a Las Vegas stripper in the B movie "Showgirls". She went from being Jessi, the girl who was all about women's rights to playing a degrading nude dancer. Not only was it a horrible movie, but it completely destroyed her reputation as Jessi on Saved by the Bell.

All of the characters on Saved by the Bell have tried desperately to escape their TV stereotypes that have been ingrained into the minds of my generation. And as much as I enjoy seeing their careers thrive in other genres and mediums, they will always be Zach, Kelly, Lisa, Slater, Jessi and Screech to me.

#4-Pop Rocks

I have a feeling that food is going to be included in a lot of posts. Pop Rocks, among many other sugar-loaded candy that will be posted in the future, totally take me back to when my best friend, Lara, and I would throw our heads back, pour almost the entire bag into our mouths. We would hold our heads back with our mouths open like little baby birds waiting to be fed, and just listen to the candy pop and sizzle in our mouths. Then we would get into giggle fits and have the sugary sticky mess drooling out the sides of our mouths!

But it was so fun to watch the candy pop and crackle in your mouth, and if you're feeling extra crazy, you add a fizzy coke to the mix. But that could get out of control! There was always that urban legend that mixing coke and pop rocks would make your stomach explode...but I did it, and I'm still hear to tell about it. The most it ever did was give me an extra jolt of sugar rush and sugar belly and tickle my mouth.

When I was in LA, we found this candy and soda shop that sold all old fashioned candy and bottled soda thats hard to find in the stores. You better believe I squealed excitedly when I found Pop Rocks! It was a party in my mouth that day:)

#3-Girl Scout Cookies

I have two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in my freezer. I love them. I was eating a Samoa this morning, which is my favorite Girl Scout Cookie. I was looking at the packaging and realizing that its the exact same packaging as it was when I sold Girl Scout Cookies as a Brownie. It's purple with the same shape and pictures of Girl Scouts all happy and smiling....same as 20 years ago. Wow, can't believe its been 20 years since I was a Brownie.

Every year around March time frame, I get excited to purchase my favorite Girl Scout cookies that I have been eating since I was a child. The staples that will never go away...the Somoa, Thin Mints and Tagalongs. Yum:)

#2-The Ballpark

I just got home from playing softball. Being at the ballpark is a great childhood reminder, because our family lived at the ballpark in the spring and summer, as did so many families. I played softball and my brother played baseball, so if we weren't at the ballpark for one of my games, we were there for one of his.

I remember getting bubble tape, which was a 6-foot long giant strip of bubble gum, and challenging friends to see how much we could chew at one time. I would have drool running down my chin trying to chew massive amounts of sugar-coated bubble gum. And then there were the suicides.

Remember suicides? It was every fountain drink mixed together in one cup and it was another amazing sugar rush! I would get a concoction of coke, dr. pepper, mt. dew, grapico, and orange slice all in one delicious beverage.

#1-New Kids on the Block

I just paid $90 to go to the NKOTB Concert. Yeah, that's right, $90! I didn't pay $90 because they are amazing musicians or performers. I paid $90 because they remind me of my childhood!

Just like any normal girl who grew up in the late 80s/early 90s, New Kids on the Block was my favorite band. I knew every word to every song. I owned every piece of New Kids paraphernalia that I could get my little hands on. Joey McIntyre was my favorite New Kid. I had a huge poster of him on my bedroom door, because my mom would not let me hang posters on my wall. Every night before, I went to bed, I would kiss him goodnight.

I went to ultimate extremes to see the New Kids. I went to my first New Kids concert in a limo, and me and my friends pretended that we were Donnie Wahlberg's cousins. And there were people who actually believed us!

The ultimate though, was when I wrote a letter to the New Kids and told them that I was dying of cancer, and that my only dying wish was to meet them in person. I don't know how that one didn't work, but I got no response from that.

Now, at 28, I am attempting once again to see the New Kids on the Block, and I will scream my head off just like I was 12 years old again. I can't wait.