Quiz: How Early 2000s Florida Girl Are You, Even?

Take a walk down nostalgia lane with us, m'dear.

It really doesn't matter if you grew up in North Miami, Boca Raton, Kendall, Pembroke Pines, Jupiter Beach, Orlando, Gainesville — or anywhere else in the great, always-magical state of Florida, because if you lived there as a tween, teen, or early 20s female in the early 2000s you should be able to ace this incredibly accurate quiz.

Early 2000s fashionInstagram.com/michelletamar_

So here's how this is going to go. You're going to give yourself a point for each and every one of the items on the list below that you owned. There are 10 total items. Getting 10 points means you're basically the 2001 mayor-elect of the University of Florida, or perhaps vying for a seat in the Tallahassee government. You earned it. The rest will be as follows:

• 1-4 points: You're a snowbird. You're not even from here. Go back to Long Island, Jess.
• 5-7 points: You came down to the sunshine state for college, or just did a brief stint while your parents figured out their divorce.
• 8-9 points: You're legit from here and probably went to Spanish River High School, or at least had a friend who did.
• 10 points: You're the mayor. You're the governor. You're every woman. Your blood's constitutions mostly Malibu Rum. Brag to all your friends.

Bath & Body Works Sprays

Did you own one? Was it your main source of fragrance? Were you knee-deep in Cucumber Melon mists just to walk out the door? You're an early 2000s Florida girl then, sweetie.

Bath & Body Works Cucumber Melon Body SprayBryce Gruber

Bonus points for having at least four varieties of these sprays and extra, extra bonus points for spritzing 5-10 times in the air, walking through it, and then heading to the Aventura Mall. You'll extra like 500 bonus points for knowing BBW still sells these, and most especially, our dearly beloved Cucumber Melon.

Mudd, LEI, or other flared mass-market denim

Did you buy your dark rinse flares for $29.99 at Bealls or Dillard's? We hope so, because that's the only legit way to mark the point off on this list. Beyond that, we hope you were wearing these bad boys with baby tees, ring-neck baseball tees, and/or the famous "going out tops."

2003 Mudd flaresInstagram.com/vintagevibes420

You know the ones we mean— silky, satin-feeling halter necks, tanks, and other similar tops that felt fancy AF at the time, and were totally meant to be worn with flared and bootcut jeans. If you were super cutting edge, you may have paired your denim with a babydoll dress for reasons science cannot explain. Go ahead and give yourself a point, kiddo, especially if you wore them out with friends to Muvico in Boca. You can still find them on eBay if you're wondering.

Blackberry phones

OMG, BBM me! F'real, there was just nothing we couldn't type out with our incredibly opposable thumbs and endless thoughts. "Meet me at Coconut Grove!" "Are you going to Florida State next year? So is Jen's cousin from Tampa." "Bring the everclear to the party!" "OMG traffic on Federal Highway is the worst rn."

Blackberry phone from 2005Instagram

Pretty sure you can still buy these on eBay, Mercari, OfferUp, etc, but why? Nature discarded them much like it did the tails of humans. There's a chance you didn't have a Blackberry, and that's okay. You can still give yourself a point if you carried a StarTac, Nokia with purchased ringtones, or similar cellphone in early 2000s Florida. You earned it.

Steve Madden Slinky Sandals

Okay, technically these were from the late 90s, but Florida is slow on the uptake and they never really caught on there till closer to 2001. Once they sunk their little platform claws into the sunshine state's east coast, they didn't let go till around 2007. They. Were. Everywhere.

Steve Madden Slinky platform shoesSteve Madden

They were graduation shoes. Your cousin's outdoor bat mitzvah shoes. Meet up for friends at California Pizza Kitchen shoes. Head to Boca Town Centre shoes. Travel to Jacksonville to see the one friend who ended up at the then-super-tiny University of North Florida shoes. These trusty black platforms never skipped a beat, and they're back on sale now thanks to a vintage revival moment from Steve Madden (bless and keep him, shall we?).

Chunky highlights

Heck, not just chunky. Downright striped-looking highlights were everywhere. We're not sure what happened across America, and it's probably Jennifer Aniston's fault, but chunky highlights were the pandemic nobody really addressed 20 years ago.

The money-piece front chunks were sort of the biggest deal, and it was obviously customary to leave those two front *chunks* out as you wore a half up-do to school, the mall, etc. We're minor-league concerned this style is back thanks to Ms. Grande, but also here for the nostalgia factor. Chalking this one up to a live-and-let-live vibe.

Anything with Coach logos

Maybe you had a CC wristlet (hint: everyone did). Maybe you had a knock-off. Maybe you had the shoes (we're looking at you, 2001 Blair from Boca Raton). The point is, you wanted as many C's as possible and you wanted them in logo form.

Coach wristletPoshmark

Wearing one of these $150 to $300 accessories made you the height of cool, even if they came from the outlets in Broward County. You can actually go ahead and give yourself a bonus point if you know which outlets I'm referring to here and another bonus point if you've made more than one purchase there ever.

Disney Grad Night

Did you celebrate high school graduation by schlepping over to Orlando for Disney Grad night? Cool, so did every other high school senior/freshly minted college student in the state of Florida. We know this isn't a thing you might've owned, per se, but you probably did it. And if you didn't do it, all your friends did.

Disney Grad NighteBay

It was a big deal. We're still wondering why they didn't get us access to all the rides, but it's cool, Magic Kingdom was a blast. #forevermemories

Follow me to see more articles like this.

...

Follow

TCBY frozen yogurt

The yogurt, the toppings, the memories— all so perfectly Floridian in the early 2000s era. I mean, there was no possible way you could grow up in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, or Palm Beach areas without having at least one cup of TCBY each week.

TCBY frozen yogurtTwitter

Give yourself a point if you can still remember the taste, and I'll throw a bonus point your way if you liked the peanut butter chips topping the best (because clearly you had good taste). If you didn't have a TCBY in the Publix shopping center near you, that's okay, you can still earn a point for being pro-frozen yogurt in general.

CDs you burned at home (preferably with Ja Rule/Ashanti/Destiny's Child)

Did you burn your own mix CDs or make them for friends? Maybe you were super creepy and made a special mix for your significant other a la 2004? If so, congrats— you're the most Floridian early 2000s girl. Bonus points for Ja Rule, Ashanti, J.Lo, Pit Bull (before he was famous), Trick Daddy, or other local favorites making it onto your mixes.

Burned CDsBSS

You're still legit if you were more into Dave Matthews and that scene, but don't get quite as many points. Think about what you've done with your life.

Matching Velour Tracksuits

Did you have the matchy-matchy Juicy Couture tracksuit? Or one of the gazillion knock-off versions? Good, you're totally in with everyone who ever walked the Earth in Palm Beach County, Florida (and surrounding areas). The good news is you can still buy the cheaper knock-offs on Amazon for a fraction of what the OG versions used to cost.

Paris Hilton in a Juicy Couture tracksuitParis Hilton

Wearing a matching tracksuit in plush velour was perhaps one of the most important early 2000s Hallmarks. If you didn't participate, or at least imagine yourself participating, were you even of menstruating age in the early 2000s? It's hard to say.

For extra credit, give yourself an extra half point for any of the following:

• Layered tees and tanks of varying lengths
• Lots of bedazzled stuff. Everything you owned had at least one rhinestone.
• You drove a Honda Civic or Accord, or your friends did
• Cheesecake Factory of bust
• 5-7-9 was so chic
• Ross Dress for Less
• Publix fresh ground peanut butter
• You know where 441 is

Did you love this list and feel seen? We'd love your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below. We probably missed a few things. Tell us.