H&M has brought back their plus-size section and I am optimistic.

Back in the day H&M was one of my favorite places to go because they were tagging themselves, "designer fashion at thrift store prices". I was hooked! They also offered plus-size section that I was excited about when I heard about it...but they must think that anyone who is curvy wants to look ugly. Then one day I went and the plus-size section was gone and I was told the company was rethinking and revamping the plus-size to bring a new and improved one day soon. That day has finally come.

H&M+ has been a long time in the works but I approve so far. I think the dresses and swimwear look contemporary and fresh...and not frumpy, that was the problem in the past. I can see myself wearing everything in the slideshow...I hear the green tie-die bathing suit is from Beyonce's collection!

What do you think?

I was really sad to hear last week that one of the members of Kris Kross, Chris Kelly, passed away. I was so obsessed with Kris Kross when I was younger so it blew me away, especially because he was my age. I remember trying to wear my clothes backwards, cause that was their thing :)

Sending light and love to his family and to his partner in crime, Chris Smith.

RIP Chris Kelly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=010KyIQjkTk&feature=share&list=PL95CDBA572695F23A

Halmoni is please to Introduce Sarah Azzouzi.

I have been searching through our endless internet to bring you another fabulous Brown Girl Who Loves Thrifting and Vintage!

Sarah is a Chicago based vintage-ista and made a name for herself with her fabulous vintage inspired hats. Besides making hats and maintaining her blog, Sarah also has an Etsy store and recently she and her BFF renovated a 1970's Winnebago called "Winnie"  to slang their vintage goodies in their new mobile shop called Lost Girl's Vintage.

Where were you born and raised?  I was born in Rabat, Morocco and raised in Portland, Maine.
What is your background?  I am 100% Arab but I'm sure I have a lot of French and Spanish ancestors since Morocco was colonized by both. 
What do you love about vintage?  Vintage to me is a way to have something unique, it's owning a piece of history and there may be stories behind the pieces of clothing you purchase that is a whole lifetime older than you.. Clothes were made with care and a lot of attention to detail, that's something we miss out on a lot with contemporary clothing.
What is the name of your mobile RV? I started a mobile shop with my business partner Kyla Embrey. It's called Lost Girls Vintage and it's in a 1970s RV that we affectionately call Winnie. For the past two months we've been working on gutting and restoring it and we finally had our grand opening this last Friday.
Is the RV for your hat collection? I plan on making hats again as soon as we hit the road! What better place to sew away than on 20 hour road trips? I hope to include some of my designs in the RV in the future.
What inspires your outfits?  A lot of different things inspire my outfits - color pallets, jewelry, art. I try to mix contemporary pieces with vintage in order to create a unique look. I love large statement pieces whether it's a huge fruit necklace, or a gold sequin jacket. I feel like my clothes should reflect my personality!

Thank you to Sarah and Lost Girl Vintage for taking time out to answer a few questions for Halmoni. We always love to discover other Brown Girls Who Love Thrifting and Vintage!!

If you love vintage and live in the Chicago area, please check out Lost Girl's Vintage. If not you can always spy her instagram @SAZZOU & @lostgirlsvintage and LIKE her Facebook page:  facebook.com/lostgirlsvintage.

I appreciate living on the west coast but growing up in NYC is so different. Music differs so much when you compare the east to the west. My sister and I would rush home from school to catch Video Music Box which came on around 3:30pm on the public access channel. Video Music Box is where I discovered many of my favorite groups from the 90's.

Fugees so remind me of my teens. Of course in these memories I think of my sister immediately because we were bff's and were always together. I remember when this song, Nappy Heads, was first released. I fell in love instantly. I wanted to be Lauryn Hill, with her over sized jacket and jeans, head wraps and door knocker earrings...btw notice how all the teenagers these days are rocking the 90's style hard.

Can I also just point out a few things that I love...ok...Wyclef's jumpsuit, dope! Pras has a gold tooth, so Brooklyn and Lauryn's cute dance moves and her beeper on the side of her pants...hahahahaha...lol! The 90's!!!

I hope you love this song as much as I do. It's definitely a classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8sNnNRhQ2g

What a busy week!

We are making some new signs and sandwich boards for Halmoni, styling our friend Rona, taking Colonel Peanut out and about and merchandising the shop just to name a few. Check out what our week looked like through our Instagram pictures.

What happened for you this week?

Loving the hot weather we are having in Oakland. I have been laying in the sun for the last few days. This is dedicated to self love and thinking about life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqYankgih54

We just released a whole new bunch of accessories in the shop! Come and check out what we have...and our $10 sales rack!

This song brings me back to my elementary school days.

Black Sheep was a 90's hip hop group that hailed from Queen, NY and one of their hits was "The Choice Is Yours".

I remember going over to my best friend Valentina's house everyday after school, we were in the 5th grade. We would always go over to her house because her mom would go to work when we returned from school while her dad was fast asleep on the couch. We would get into all kinds of trouble when 4:30 hit :) We would wait for her older brother to get ready for work so that we could play his LP's that he normally wouldn't let her or I touch. As soon as the coast was clear we would blast "The Choice Is Yours" and chill in her room where we did each others hair and talked about boys. I miss those days in NYC where I grew up. I miss my childhood sometimes...I hope you enjoy this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9F5xcpjDMU

How are you liking "Tunes on Tuesday"?

I love Korean food!

Ok, maybe its because my mom is Korean and that's what I ate growing up but seriously, Korean food is the best and is considered the soul food of Asia, yup! Most is gluten free and low in fat, I know! The standard at a Korean dinner is rice, a soup and lots of banchan.

Banchan are side dishes and on average you will get between 8-10 with you meal. Korea's most favorite and popular banchan is kimchi. If kimchi is not your thing there are hundreds of different types made of different vegetables, and not all of them spicy. Some are steamed, marinated, or stir-fried seasoned with sesame oil, salt, vinegar, minced garlic, chopped green onions, dried chili peppers, and/or soy sauce.

Check out your local Korean restaurant or check out Maangchi, a website that has all the Korean recipes that your hearts desire. If you can't find what you want on there you can always ask me and I can ask my mom :)

What is your favorite banchan?

This song, Downtown by SWV reminds me of my big sister, Nicole. SWV stands for "Sisters with Voices" and they were a gospel group at first but then blew up in the early 90's as a R&B group. She and I are about a year apart so we were really tight growing up. When we were preteens/teenagers in the 90's, we would sing all the hits by women like SWV, XSCAPE and MARIAH CAREY, just to name a few. My sister was kinda bossy (jk, I love you Nikki) so she would ALWAYS be the lead singer and I would do backup vocals ;(....lol. I am so excited about sharing music on the blog because it is one of my other passions. This song reminds me of my childhood and how much fun I had with my big sis.

BTW...check out their outfits and color coordinating with the towels by the pool. Oh and did u peep Coko's nails!!!!

Enjoy!