Salaamualaikum friends!

We've reached the middle month of summer, and I feel like I have packed in an entire summer’s worth of activities into a few short weeks. At our house, we like to pace our activities (with our autism living and all), but it has been go, go, go around here! There have been weddings, the end of school, a beach trip and Eid ul Adha already.

How about you? Is your summer off to a bang with a frenzy of activities? Or, is it a meandering, relaxed summer? I like both kinds, but lean more towards the lazy, relaxed summer with a smattering of activities. This is the first summer in our home when one of our kids is leaving the nest for a major flight for the rest of summer. Our daughter is headed to a study abroad program this week, which is a major shift in our family dynamic.

I grew up with the most fantastic set of parents as a first-generation Muslim American. My folks were literally pioneers in figuring out how to straddle American living with our Islamic deen in a way that always prioritized our lives as Muslim but also had us threading ourselves into the American fabric in ways that didn’t compromise our beliefs and values. That was the goal, at least, and I think my folks did a pretty good job of it.

They were figuring things out, and part of their parenting technique was restricting my brothers and I, particularly me (as a daughter), from leaving the safety and stability of home for other adventures. I commuted to college and never did study abroad or took an internship that would have me moving out of the home.

I knew I would do some things differently with my children. Hence when our daughter presented us with a study abroad program and her reasons for wanting to go, her dad and I agreed and offered full support.

Yeah, I’m plenty nervous and will be popping overseas to visit her at the midway point of her studies (What? Don’t judge me! She asked me to come!), but Insha’Allah this will be a great experience.

So that’ll be my July! How about you, HH fam? What do you have going on? This month at Haute Hijab we are focusing on the theory of color – how understanding what colors work for you, your skin tone and your changing moods can help you pick the right ones to wear and with which to surround yourself.

We just dropped 13 new beautiful summer chiffon colors, and this month we’ll be getting into the subtle differences between shades of blue, purples pinks and more. We’re always being asked (well, Melanie most of all is being asked) –will this hijab color look good on me? What hijab color looks good on me? As we explore color throughout the month, we hope to help you answer these questions!

The Islamic month of Muharram will begin soon, and towards the end of July will be Ashura, an important date in Islamic history for us all as well as an important remembrance for Shi’a Muslims. We will be featuring some stories around that as well. While we don’t want to put the burden of educating Muslims about Ashura on our Shi’a fam, we do hope to learn more from them about why this day is particularly significant to them.

And get ready, we’re working on something special to bring you in August (or thereabouts), Insha’Allah! I won’t say more, but we hope it will be the start of something helpful and wonderful for the beautiful women and communities we serve! So, keep us and our work in your du’as, as you are in ours. And as always, start everything you do with Bismillah.

Take care!

Editorially yours,

Dilshad