Welcome back everyone! Happy last blog of January! Next week we'll be kicking off February with a little party planning so stay tuned for that. However, we've still got this week to wrap up and I have a great send-off to January planned. On this not-so-nice Friday, we're going to explore the best places to visit in Iowa!

#1: East Village, Des Moines
The East Village is one of my favorite areas of Des Moines. There's awesome shops, bakeries, restaurants, and more! In the wintertime there's an ice skating rink that I didn't even know existed until last December. Aside from all the awesome places, the landscape and architecture is really cool. Just picture this. You're walking down the sidewalk in early September. The weather's still nice but there's a little chill in the air. The breeze is coming off the water and you smell the aroma of fresh coffee and and newly made breakfast pastries that you can't help but enter that corner bakery you've always been curious about. You spend the day shopping and gazing at all the artwork sprinkled through different areas. It's a perfect day. If only every day could be like that.

#2: Decorah, Iowa
Located in Northwest Iowa, Decorah is a great place to find adventure and unique features only a small town can offer. There's plenty of forests and natural landscapes to go biking, hiking, camping, and more. However, there's plenty to do for culture lovers. There's art museums, small town boutiques with plenty of trendy fashion, and of course restaurants that aren't your typical big city chains. For sure a perfect example of a diamond in the rough.

#3: Okoboji, Iowa
Okoboji is a summer destination situated on the shores of West Lake Okoboji. Its glacier-carved river is one that makes up the Iowa Great Lakes. Due to its location, Okoboji is full of water sports for the athlete in all of us. This lakeside town hosts unique features only found here. The Higgins Museum houses national bank notes and the Okaboji Summer Theatre produces shows specially for the summer season. Okaboji is a great mid-point to explore other resort towns full of shopping, dining, and more cultural activities.

#4: Eldora, Iowa
Eldora is close to home for me. It's located roughly 17 miles from Iowa Falls and is close to the Iowa River and Pine Lake State Park. I did a little extra research and Eldora has a sad orgin. Founded in 1853, Eldora was named by a woman who lost her daughter Eldora. The name is Spanish and means "the gilded". A large percentage of the downtown is located on the National Historic Register. Time has been suspended here. The Ahoy Fountain is still present so you can enjoy a malt that has been made the same for decades.

#5: Pella, Iowa
​Pella has strong Dutch heritage and is known as "America's Dutch Treasure". Founded by immigrants from the Netherlands, Pella is about 40 miles southeast of Des Moines. Every spring, there's a display of thousands of tulips in bloom. Special to Pella is the Vermeer Mill which is the largest working grain mill in the country. The recently restored Pella Opera House is also another must-see and the Tulip Time Festival is a unique cultural celebration.

i hope you enjoyed this impromptu travel guide to close out January! I'll see you next week in February!
-Caroline
YouTube: Caroline Hill
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Next Saturday is February 1st! Let's take note of some things now that we're almost into month 2 of 12. One, we've survived the first month of 2020. Two, we're that much closer to warm weather. Three, that means it's time to do some cleaning. Nothing crazy but enough that you feel refreshed, calm, maybe less stressed as the weather gets warmer. Luckily for all of you, cleaning and organizing is my specialty. Sit back and relax as I go over all the things you should reorganize, repurpose, or just get rid of all together.

Reorganize
Have a drawer that's bugging you because you can't find anything? A closet? A desk? A shelf? A wallet? There's an easy fix! Move some things around. I find myself reorganizing things all the time and this process is one that really works for me.

Step 1: Remove everything. Whether it's a drawer, shelf, or an entire desk, take EVERYTHING out. You want to be able to see it all so you can easily decide what to keep, give away, or throw away.

Step 2: Separate into piles. One for everything you want, don't want, or whatever's beyond help. I recommend a trash can present for this step. You'll probably try to rationalize keeping something but if the garbage is right there, you'll be able to let it go without any issues. Plus, you also don't want to have too much because that'll just create the problem all over again.

Step 3: Reorganize. After you've decided what to keep, make piles again based on what it is. When I reorganized my desk I made a craft drawer (paper, colored pencils, stickers, etc), a necessities drawer (notebooks, chargers, wallet, speakers, everything I wanted to be able to grab easily), a journal drawer (for my current and extra future journals), a lost and found drawer (for everything that doesn't't have a designated spot), a journal archive drawer (for all my past journals that are full), and another necessities drawer (Everything I still want access to but not the very first drawer).

Repurpose
You'd be surprised but there's actually a lot of stuff you can repurpose. Clothes can be turned into new accessories, jewelry can be remade, you can even make stationary out of small scrapes of paper. Always think about repurposing before you throw away or donate. However, repurpose within reason. If it's about to fall to pieces don't worry too much about throwing it away.

Get Rid of It
Sometimes things are beyond repair. Especially if they've been jammed in a drawer for months or years. Here are a few things you should get rid of to make room for the new. Dry pens or markers, broken pencils, things you haven't worn, used, or even remember buying, ripped clothing, expired makeup, broken containers, things that are taking up space, and anything else you feel shouldn't be there.

That's all for this week! Keep warm with all this cold weather coming through and enjoy the last few days of January! Make the most of them!
-Caroline:)
YouTube: Caroline Hill
Pinterest: Caroline Hill
Twitter: @carolinegh16
Podcast: Convo's With Caroline
Facebook: Caroline Hill and Fashion Fun and Extra
Instagram: @carhill765 and @fashionfunandextra
FabFitFun: I'm a #fabfitfunaffiliate now! Click my link and use code WINTERFUN at checkout for 20% off your first box. The winter box is only available for 8 more days so hurry to snag all the awesome products like the ones I got in my FabFitFun box!

Happy Friday! We've hit the first snow day of winter and I thought what better thing to talk about today than budgeting! You might find it a very snooze-worthy topic but it's actually really important. Plus, you want to make sure to head into the rest of the year financially sound. However, I am not a money expert so feel free to take my advice or alter it for yourself!

Step 1: Take a look at your spending habits and patterns: Always sit down and look at everything you spend. Separate them into groups. One will be what I like to call the "Necessities to Live" group. This will include bills, food, clothes, gas money, that kind of thing. The second group is one that I cave into many times. It is the "Guilty Pleasures/Compulsions" group. It will probably amount to almost daily $5 coffees, takeout, spur-of-the-moment shopping trips (which aren't always bad), random miscellaneous stuff, and everything else you buy online at two in the morning. The next group is where your "Planned Fun" falls under. Movies, dinner dates, concerts, everything saved for in advance. The last major group is of course the "Emergency Fund" which everyone needs. It's $20 for dinner or $50 bucks for sudden car issues or a couple $100 in case of a really bad disaster. Once you look at it all then it's time to make some cuts.

Step 2: Reallocate funds: Once you've laid it out, make some decisions. I'd leave alone the necessities group and start with the guilty pleasures/compulsions. Are there things you can stop doing? Yes. Will you want to? No. Do you want to have money? Yes. My answer: Get rid of it. Instead of buying a coffee 7 days a week maybe cut it back to once a week or twice a month. You may be think $5 a day isn't bad. It's not but every of the year is. Here's some math. 5 x 7 is 35. That's $35 a week people! That could get you half a tank of gas or an entire new outfit. If we do 35 x 52 it adds up to $1,820. $1,820 a year! That could buy you an apartment or even a gently used car. Just think, you could save almost  $1,000 by cutting out one little thing that could easily be made at home. My suggestion is multiply everything by how often you do them to figure out how much money you're spending overall. Then you could decide if it's really worth it. Once you've parted ways with some things reallocate that money. Add it to other bills, your emergency fund, or just put it away in savings. 

Step 3: Start tracking:​ When I started my job this summer, I immediately created a spreadsheet to track how much I have and what it's been spent on. This really helped me so I wasn't confused on how much I had. Down below, you can see how I set it up. I date everything just for thoroughness and I always track the previous amount before I add in more because then I don't have to keep track of a lot of numbers. I have a separate column for money added and the new total because, again, it's just easier to read. I have a space for money taken out that's separate because there's some days where I only add, only subtract, or do both. You'll see that if I took out money, there's $0.00 put in for money added and a line through the added total. After I put in all the numbers, I add a description (what it was for) then highlight the box green (added) or red (subtracted).

Step 4: Live your life: You've done everything you've needed to! Analyzed your spending, reallocated funds after cutting things out, and created a simple method to keep yourself organized with your new budget. Now all that's left to do is go about your day. No more worrying about your budget until next week or month depending on how often you want to alter things.
Enjoy your newfound freedom with these four simple steps!
-Caroline:)
YouTube: Caroline Hill
Pinterest: Caroline Hill
Twitter: @carolinegh16
Podcast: Convo's With Caroline 
Facebook: Caroline Hill & Fashion Fun and Extra
Instagram: @carhill765 & @fashionfunandextra
FabFitFun: I'm a #fabfitfunaffiliate now! Get your winter box for a discounted price before it becomes unavailable on January 31st. By clicking my link and using code WINTERFUN at checkout you'll get $10.00 off your first box! 

My favorite part about a new month is Caroline's Book Club! The best part about this time is that it'll kick off a whole year's worth of Caroline's Book Club which means I'll have to read a whole lot more!

#5 Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich
The titular character, Evan Hansen writes notes to himself everyday as recommended by his therapist. One day he writes a letter and puts it in his pocket. At school he sees Zoe, the girl he likes and her brother Connor. A confrontation ensues and Connor ends up with Evan's note to himself. The next day Connor is not at school which Evan finds odd. He is later called to the office where he meets Connor's parents. They inform him that Connor killed himself the night prior. Even more shocking, they found a note in Connor's pocket that starts with "Dear Evan Hansen" and ends with, "Sincerely, Your Best Friend". Evan realizes that what they really found was the note he wrote to himself but he withheld that fact because Connor's parents thought it was his suicide note. Throughout the novel, Evan struggles with telling the truth that they were never really friends or to keep lying because he finally feels like he belongs. The ending will shock you....

#4 Becoming by Michelle Obama
This book doesn't follow a specific plot point but rather flows from topic to topic. I for one, enjoyed this book. You can never truly understand major figures in the world so to be able to read their thoughts and memories is so cool. Especially because it tackles all parts of the world. From typical family lives to the political "battlefield" and all that entails. Defiantly recommend!

#3 The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R Carey
Not going to lie, this book confused me when I first started reading. Set twenty years after a fungus ravaged most of mankind and turned them into zombie-like creatures, a group of military soldiers and elite doctors are holding a large group of children infected with the fungus. These children still retain their mental functions, only becoming aggressive when they smell human flesh. They are being held in order to test how the fungus affects their bodies in a hope to find a cure. When the base is invaded by "hungries" (humans who have the fungus but have lost all their mental abilities and feed on human flesh) and kills most of the people on site, a group is able to escape. They include Dr. Caldwell, who is trying to find a cure to the fungus, Helen Justineau, a teacher on the base, Sergeants Parks and Gallagher, and finally Melanie, an infected ten-year-old with a genius level IQ. The five of them make the dangerous trip to London on foot. Through the novel, each character comes to many realizations about themselves and how humankind is supposed to grow in the future. Two words. So. Good.

#2 The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
This is one of those feel-good, happy book. It's about a family who stay in a little cottage on a sprawling estate for a summer vacation. The children get into all kinds of mischief with the estate owner's ten-year-old son. They encourage him to break away from his mother's hold and experience the world outside his home. The Penderwicks is a really fast read and has a great storyline. Perfect book for a relaxing night!

#1 One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus
I read the prequel to this book, One of Us is Lying over the last month and when I found out about the sequel it made my day. One of Us is Next is set a year after One of Us is Lying. All the original characters, Bronwyn, Addy, Cooper, and Nate have graduated high school after being cleared in their classmate, Simon's death when it was discovered that the death wasn't homicide but rather a suicide. A year later, someone is still trying to keep Simon's memory alive through his gossip app. Rather than an app this time, it's a game of truth or dare and it's not going to end well.

Come back next month for more book suggestions! Comment below your favorites and ones I should read!
-Caroline:)
YouTube: Caroline Hill
Pinterest: Caroline Hill
Twitter: @carolinegh16
Podcast: Convo's With Caroline
Instagram: @carhill765 and @fashionfunandextra
Facebook: Caroline Hill and Fashion Fun and Extra
FabFitFun: I'm a #fabfitfunaffiliate now! Click this link and use code WINTERFUN to get your winter box! The window closes on Jan. 31st so make sure you snag one of these before they're gone!