The Top Five - Things That Make Me Think "Summer"

1. Mister Softee Music.

How many times as the summer sun slipped into evening did you hear the familiar tune of Mister Softee in the distance? Even now, as an adult, when I hear those notes, I feel the need to run to my mom and ask her for a dollar to buy a Popsicle.

2. Ray-Ban Wayfarers.

I bought my first and only pair of Wayfayers in 1984 for $45 (can you imagine?). Although not in the best of shape, I still own them; they reside in my car for those sunny days when I forget my current shades. And although I wore them year round for decades, they always remind me of Don Hendley's Boys of Summer. (A song I never understood until I grew up, I might add.)

3. Noxema.

The smell of Noxema always reminds me of those summer days when I got too much sun and I would sooth it on my upset skin. The cool formula would "pull" the heat right out of sun-burned skin.

4. Love's Baby Soft.

Did you know they still make this fragrance? They do!  A staple in the beauty wardrobe of every lady under 12 in the 1980's, Love's Baby Soft is infused with delicate notes of baby powder. I recently saw this in a CVS and was instantly transported to the summer of 1984 or prior. The smell made me recall that feeling of playing all day in the sun and bike riding in the neighborhood, then getting a refreshing shower and laying down on cool, fresh bed sheets. It was just so airy and clean.

5. Iced Tea Mix.

Growing up we always had a pitcher of iced tea in the refrigerator. ALWAYS. Lipton Iced Tea Powder in an enormous tub. And although it was a year-long staple, it evokes summer memories because we drank it that much faster and had the inevitable "who gets stuck making the next pitcher of iced tea fight." All you had to do was take something like 6 pre-measured scoops of the stuff and mix it with tap water, but you'd think it was torture the way we avoided it. Two ounces left in the pitcher? Put it back in the fridge; you didn't finish it and shouldn't have to make it!