​Has anyone ever wanted something really bad but come to find out that it's too expensive? You battle with your responsible and irresponsible sides which will either result in $40 gone from your account or nothing happening at all. What if I told you that there was no need for all the debating? What if there was something that came to your door once a month with a bunch of different things that you could try without deciding right there in the store? Spoiler alert: There is! They're called subscription boxes. 
Subscription boxes are what I like to call, "A little bit of Christmas delivered every month!" Unless you live under a rock and/or have shunned any form of technology, you'll know that these things are everywhere. But what are they? In simple terms, subscription boxes are something you order (yes, you still have to pay a little bit of money but that's almost inescapable now) and it will magically appear at your door a few weeks later. However, the sea of subscriptions is vast. What's worth the money and what should you stay away from? Here's some of my personal favs and some you should look at that I haven't tried yet!
1.) FabFitFun
If you didn't think this would be #1 then you don't know me at all. I stumbled upon this box a few years ago but didn't have the money to pay for it. Then I started working at the pool. The first thing I ever bought with my money was this box and it was a great choice. Every season you can get great brands like Kate Spade, Anthropologie, Amika, Tarte, and more! FabFitFun is awesome and this is what you need to know if you want it for yourself. If you decide you want to give it a try, click this link and use code PUMPKINSPICE at checkout to get $10.00 off your first box! Keep in mind, this is a brief rundown of information so head over to their website or leave me a comment because I'm a #FABFITFUNAFFILIATE and I'm very well versed in this box! There are two subscriptions. A seasonal subscription and an annual subscription. The seasonal subscription is $49.99 per season not including tax and any extra things you add. With this subscription you get 7-8 items that you can choose but some are also randomized. When you create your account it gives you access to FabFitFun TV and Community. FabFitFun TV has fun recipes, workouts/yoga, and other videos. The community is where everyone goes to give their thoughts, opinions, box spoilers and more. Another fun perk is access to exclusive deals and sneak peeks about the upcoming season. The annual subscription is a little different. Instead of $49.99 per season, you pay $150.00 per year. Again, not including tax and extras. $150.00 is roughly the price of all four boxes but instead of four payments a year, this makes it so it's only one. Another upgrade with this plan is that you get 8-10 customizable products that, unlike the seasonal where some things are picked for you, you pick everything you get. 
2.) Sephora Play Box
I've been subscribed to Sephora Play for two years now and I really enjoy it! Every month a new box comes to my door with five makeup products. They range from foundations, primers, eyeliner, blush, anything you can think of in the realm of makeup. The fun thing with this box is you don't know what you're getting until the package has shipped. The best part is, Sephora Play doesn't break the bank! At the beginning of each month they'll remove $10.00 from your account and then you never have to deal with it again until the next month. With brands like Tarte, Beauty Blender, Marc Jacobs, and more, Sephora Play is easy! Signing up is easy. All you have to do is setup your beauty profile and payment method, then voliá. Your job is done! All that's left is to play around with your new makeup!
3.) Pura Vida
This subscription is something that my sister gets but she enjoys it a lot so it made the list! A Pura Vida subscription is different than most as they ship jewelry, particularly bracelets. Just like Sephora Play, you get a delivery once a month of three bracelets. The cost is different for every package but payment once a month totals out to $15.00 give or take. The good thing however, is that your money gets donated. Instead of sitting there, it gets donated to charity and helps people in other countries secure jobs. What makes a better combo. You're getting and giving at the same time. Sounds like a good exchange in my opinion!
Which subscription would you choose or what would you suggest I add? Let me know in the comments and on my social media profiles!
-Caroline:)
Pura Vida: https://www.puravidabracelets.com/products/pura-vida-monthly-club
FabFitFun: https://prf.hn/click/camref:1100l86iQ
Sephora Play: https://www.sephora.com/beauty/play
YouTube: Caroline Hill
Twitter: @carolinegh16
Pinterest: Caroline Hill
Instagram: Personal: @carhill765
                   Blog: @fashionfunandextra
Facebook: Personal: Caroline Hill
                   Blog: Caroline Hill
Podcast: Convo's With Caroline on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Happy Monday! The start of the week can be a little rocky but that's what fun announcements are for. Starting every Monday, there's going to be a post dedicated to makeup! However, every product is going to be something that both men and women can use. Without further ado, I introduce you to the newest series on Fashion Fun and Extra: Makeup Monday!
​I'm all for a good moisturizer. My favorite right now is the Human + Kind Body Soufflé. I love it so much that it almost boarders on obsessional. This moisturizer has an awesome formula that feels great on your skin. It's soft and smooth rather than rough and sticky, which can happen with some moisturizers that are supposed to accomplish the same things. Along with performance, the body soufflé, as well as other products made by Human + Kind, is completely vegan and cruelty free. You can check it out for yourself here. Human + Kind Body Soufflé 
​Everyone has hair damage at on point or another. I think we can all agree on that. A fast lifesaver is the Aveda Damage Remedy Daily Hair Repair comes in. No matter what did the damage, this product is good for any situation. Heat damage, detangling, and breaking are no challenge for this cream. Trust me, that's a good thing for anyone. Give it a week of use and you'll see results in the form of new and improved hair. Buy it for yourself here. Aveda Damage Remedy Daily Hair Repair 
No matter the season, our skin will inevitably get dry or cracked. If you're dealing with this on a regular basis, I think you should try the Doctor Rogers Restore Healing Balm. I used this a ton over the summer. Especially on those really hot days in July and August. It's easy to apply and works almost instantaneously once put on the affected areas. Be sure not to not over use it each time. For one, a little goes a long way and second, it's a little hard to remove from your fingers since it's disposed through a squeeze tube so keep that in a mind. See if it's worth your while. Doctor Rogers Restore Healing Balm
​Speaking of cracked, dry hands, there are also cracked, dry lips. Chapstick's always a good fall back but if you want fast results, defiantly take a look at the Lineage Lip Sleeping Mask. As its name suggests, you apply this mask at night. When you wake up, remove the excess and leave the house with smooth and moisturized lips. Take it from me. This mask works like a charm day or night. Still unsure? Read reviews and other feedback. Lineage Lip Sleeping Mask
​Self Care Saturdays and Sundays are my favorite days. My week is super stressful and the affects tend to show up on my face in the form of acne, dark circles, and the occasional forehead lines. It's horrifying. If I need a fast solution, there's one mask in particular I like to use. The Generation Clay Ultraviolet Purple Brightening Mask. I apply it with a brush, relax for 10 minutes with an episode of Grey's Anatomy, and rinse my face with water, then towel dry. It's really that simple! Anyone can use it and the best part is, it doesn't take a whole lot of time so you're able to take some time for you and then get right back to work within the hour! Check it out! Generation Clay Mask 
How'd the first Makeup Monday go? Did you enjoy the relax and recharge theme or would you like more of a look-based product list? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and as always, have a wonderful day!
-Caroline:)
​Instagram: Personal: @carhill765 
                   Blog: @fashionfunandextra
Facebook: Personal: Caroline Hill
                   Blog: Fashion Fun and Extra
Twitter: @carolinegh16
YouTube: Caroline Hill
Podcast: Convo's With Caroline on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
Pinterest: Caroline Hill
I'm a #FABFITFUNAFFILIATE! Follow my link prf.hn/click/camref:1100l86iQ and use code PUMPKINSPICE at checkout to get $10.00 off your first box!

I need to ask for your forgiveness. This was supposed to go up Sunday  but I didn't take into account how tired I would be from Homecoming and that my exhaustion would make me not want to do anything besides watch Netflix and chill. Now I'm playing catch up on all my Sunday ToDo's. As you all know, I have Cerebral Palsy and as luck would have it, Sunday was World CP Day. I don't think I've ever really talked about it before other than a few slide-ins occasionally so I'm going to do some educating today. You may want something to take notes because things tend to get a little complicated but it's your call. Just know I tried to warn you!
​​My story is a little complicated than most so some bits are going to get skipped over. These are the key points. I was born very premature, as in my birthday should've been November of 2004 but instead it turned out to be August of 2004. That's a three month difference which is pretty big in terms of a baby's development. From there I was taken to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines where I stayed for 11 weeks (Hopefully if I get anything wrong, mom will tell me before too many of you read this). Besides a few minor things, everything was fairly "normal" for a little while. Flash forward to early 2005, there were things I wasn't doing/accomplishing that a baby my age should've been. I was primarily using my right hand over my left, my crawling was lagging a bit on my left side, and according to many, many, and I mean many recounts by family members, I hated to lay on my stomach. Like hated it as much as a person hates paying bills or eating vegetables. These are all defined signs of cerebral palsy. At that point, my parents decided it was probably time to pay the doctor a visit. I believe that I first went to Iowa City (Again, hopefully mom catches any historical errors on my part) which is where the diagnosis officially came from. There's a ton of ways to test for it but I was diagnosed with an MRI in December of 2005 at Mason City.
There are three types of cerebral palsy. Spastic, dyskinetic, and mixed presentation. I fall under the category of spastic hemiplegia cerebral palsy which means that my muscles are tighter and stiffer than an average person and one side is more affected than the other. In my case, it's the left side. I would like to note that I am almost 95% sure that's my official condition because I see similarities in both the hemiplegia and quadriplegia (all four limbs affected) categories of the condition and depending on the doctor, they'll say quadriplegia or hemiplegia.
No matter what your diagnosis is, there is always a course of treatment to follow that is designed by your doctor. They almost always change as the years go on, so mine has gone all over the place in fifteen years. After I became a patient at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, MN www.gillettechildrens.org, I was fitted with AFO's which are braces that are molded to your leg and they're there to give more support because my ankles aren't very stable when I'm standing in "regular person form". I've also received botulinum toxin and phenol injections but those have stopped because the medicine that they use to loosen my muscles eventually stops working and slowly deteriorates my muscles. However, I still have to get shots that aren't typical. One of my surgeries was implanting a baclofen pump in my stomach. This releases medicine directly into my spinal cord via a wire to further help keep my leg and arm muscles loose. Like all things, the medicine, along with the pump battery, eventually runs out. This means that every six months (previously three due to the smaller size of my first pump), I head to Ames to get a needle jabbed in my stomach so they can refill the medication to prevent my alarm from going off because of low amounts of the baclofen. Fun fact: This has happened before. Ask my mom the story. Or better yet, ask Kenzie. If you recall, I also mentioned the pump battery runs out. Also not typical of other people, every 6-7 years, I have to go under the knife and get a new pump put in with a brand new battery. 2008 was when the first one went in, 2015 was when that one got replaced with a bigger one, and if my math is correct I'll be having another surgery in two-ish years to get another one. Besides surgery and scary shots, I do a ton of physical therapy to keep everything working the way it's supposed to and have yearly checkups with my orthopedic doctor and main cerebral palsy specialist to make sure I'm still the most basic disabled kid in existence.
The last thing I'll touch on is my surgical history. My first corrective surgery was in my legs. When a baby is born, their hips aren't fully in place inside the sockets. There's normally no need for worry because as they learn to walk, the hips will slide into place. However, we all know normal isn't a word in my vocabulary so by default mine had to be the stand-outs. Because I wasn't walking like other kids, instead of sliding in, they slid very slowly outward. To correct this, the doctor had to go in and break my hips, reposition them, and hold them in with plates and screws. The plates and screws were in for a year and then taken out. So far, there are no problems yet. At this point, it would shock me if something were to change but I guess you never know.
My last surgery most of you know about but here is the short version just in case. The muscles in my leg weren't growing with me which continuously restricted my ability to stand/walk. Adding onto that, my kneecaps were also slowly getting worse and they were shifting upward. In February 2016, I went in for my yearly appointment where my orthopedic doctor said that there was no putting it off any longer. If they didn't do anything in the next few months, my legs would deteriorate to the point where I would not be able to stand anymore. The initial time for the surgery was four-five hours after taking into account the time it would take to reconstruct, remove, and replace my kneecaps along with the time it would take to lengthen my muscles. Four-five hours eventually dragged into seven hours. The cause behind this dramatic change was my bone density. Bone density is basically your bone strength. When you walk constantly, your bone density gets stronger. Since I don't walk as much as normal people, mine was very weak. To keep everything like it should, the surgeons had to be extra careful. Hence, the time shift. Within a year or so, everything was properly healed and nothing has slid or contracted back into old positions in the last three years.
I think with that, we've covered everything. Granted, it took a few paragraphs but I think I got most of it down. Feel free to leave comments or questions and I'll do my very best to answer everything. Enjoy your week!
-Caroline:)
Instagram: Personal: @carhill765
Blog: @fashionfunandextra
Facebook: Personal: Caroline Hill
Blog: Fashion Fun and Extra
Twitter: @carolinegh16
Podcast: Convo's With Caroline on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
YouTube: Caroline Hill
I'm a #FABFITFUNAFFILIATE! Use code PUMPKINSPICE at checkout to get $10.00 off your first box! Get yours at this link: prf.hn/click/camref:1100l86iQ