I have lived in NYC for over a decade now. That’s so hard for me to say. And while I have met great friends during my time in the city.  There is nothing like meeting people from the Midwest.  The regional bond is instant.  We bond over how we drink ‘Pop’ not soda, missing a good deep dish pizza and our disdain for Reggae, Soca or any type of Islander music. No offense to my West Indian friends.  But you already know how it is.

Photos by Rome

I’d like to introduce you to my Chi-town friend Keanna O’Quinn.  I met her at a mutual friend’s party a couple of summers ago and we have been cool ever since.  She is a talented singer and songwriter.  If you are in NYC, you may have seen her perform at the Apollo Theater, Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar and Village Underground.  But if you are not in NYC and she looks familiar, it’s probably because you have seen her on American Idol.  Yes! That American Idol. Unfortunately I missed her season 9 performance because I had already stopped watching the show seasons prior. Dang!

I would like for you guys to check out Keanna’s new video for her single ‘Foo Wop’ that was released on Valentine’s Day.  How appropriate since Foo Wop (pronounced /foo-wap/) is used to describe an intense love experience.  I know we have all had one of those!  (I’m looking at you, Bedford.)  *fans self*  The song is about how women are strong and can juggle everythang.  You know how we do.  Taking care of business while giving out TLC and constantly multitasking.  The video captures the double sided coin we women live daily.

‘Foo Wop’ is an original song created around Keanna’s vocal arrangement.  Let someone create a song based around my vocal arrangements and it would sound like someone crashing together two trash can lids. Except for when I’m in the shower.  The acoustics allow me to  sound like Mariah. Since I like to stay in my lane. I will stick to social media and photography.  When I was a child and would try to sing, my mother would tell me “Toya, just write it down”. Bloop!

Any who, watch the Keanna O’Quinn’s ‘Foo Wop’ video below:

Her love interest in the video is a cutie. What yo’ name is?

Enjoy and let me know what you think of the video.

Free Museum Day is tomorrow. Get 2 Free Tickets to the participating museum of your choice!  Admission is for tomorrow, 9/29/12.

Which museum will you be attending?

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TV Personality, Rapper (remember she replaced the rapper chick in Floetry for a hot minute) and artist, Amanda Seales (formerly known as Amanda Diva) will be showcasing her artwork at “Warrigirls & Hairoines”.

Where: Hair Rules Salon (828 9th Ave #2, NYC)

Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2012.

Time: 7pm to 11pm

RSVP: divaworksofart@gmail.com

I love going to events at Hair Rules. They know how to throw a swanky party.  I’m positive there will be drinks and bites to eat.  Bring your money too because I’m sure you will be able to purchase hair products and Amanda’s artwork.  Don’t wait to RSVP because their events fill up very quickly. You can check out her artwork at Diva Works of Art.

If you follow me on Twitter then you probably know that I saw a great movie over the weekend.  I didn’t know anything about this movie until I happened to see one of my Facebook friends “like” it on their page.  I saw the picture of Michael Ealy and had to investigate because I like him as an actor. After further clicking I stumbled across a movie fan page and saw that he was in a new movie titled Unconditional.  Prior to my sleuthing, I had not seen any advertisement or heard anything about this movie.  I quickly went to the actual site for the movie and learned that it was opening that weekend.  If you know me, then you know I love to support black films opening weekend.  I like to do what I can to push these movies to #1.

The movie was playing at my local theater which is about a ten minute walk from my house.  So I popped some popcorn at my house (I don’t like movie theater popcorn and it’s cheaper) and walked to the theater.  Now normally I don’t like to watch “black” movies in “black” theaters for a whole list of reasons that I won’t divulge now.  But I didn’t have to worry about any of my reasons coming to fruition because I was one of four people in the whole theater.  Apparently no one knew about this movie either. *insert sad face*  Which is sad because it was a great movie.  Below  is a brief synapsis of the movie.

Samantha Crawford is living a storybook life: she’s happily married, she lives on a ranch where she keeps her beloved horse, and the stories she’s told and illustrated since childhood have become published books.

When her husband Billy is killed in a senseless act of violence, Sam loses her faith and her will to live. But a death-defying encounter with two children leads to a reunion with Joe, her oldest friend. Inspired by true events, UNCONDITIONAL stars Michael Ealy (Think Like A Man) and Lynn Collins (John Carter).

As Sam watches “Papa” Joe care for and love the kids in his under-resourced neighborhood, she begins to realize that no matter life’s circumstances, the love of God is always reaching out to us.

Check out the trailer too!

I hope you guys make an effort to see this movie while it’s in the theaters.  It was really good and I boo hoo’d like a baby. (Not that it takes much for me to cry.)  And it is based on a true story.  Don’t you love movies based on actual events?  If you do get a chance to see it, I would love to know your thoughts.

Willow Smith released her video for her new song I Am Me. The words in this song are powerful. It should be an anthem for every little girl and boy.

Listen to the song and tell me what you think.

Posted with Blogsy

Have you ever seen a movie and days later you can’t stop thinking about it?  Well Beasts of the Southern Wild had that effect on me.  So much that I had to do a blog post about it.   The movie is about a six-year-old girl named Hushpuppy (played by Quvenzhané Wallis) who lives with her father Wink (Dwight Henry) in a forgotten southern Delta community cut off from the rest of the world by a levee.

This movie was excellent.  The trailer does not do it any justice.  I would tell you more but I don’t want to give anything away.  I will say that it was Quvenzhané Wallis‘ first time acting.  She was picked out of 4000 little girls to play the part of Hush Puppy.  And she successfully carried the whole movie on her shoulders considering she didn’t have any acting experience.  It was Dwight Henry, the actor that played the father, first time acting as well.  Some people just have a knack for acting and these two do not disappoint. Dwight Henry also owns and runs the ‘Buttermilk Drop Bakery and Cafe’ in the Seventh Ward, New Orleans.

Since I live in NYC, I was able to see the movie last week.  But I see that it’s slowly making its way across the country.  Click here to look up showtimes in your area.

A couple of days ago I got a chance to go to the Eric Benét listening party for his new album titled, The One, at the Porsche Design Store located in SoHo.

The event started at 8pm.  I think me and my friend Deniece showed up at around 8:30.  Being that the event ended at 11pm, we figured Eric wouldn’t arrive until around 10pm.  So we killed time by taking pictures in front of the step and repeat.

There wasn’t anyone taking pictures at the time but luckily I had my DSLR with me.  This one guy offered to take my picture.  I don’t think he did too bad.  He took some nice shots.

Vintage Express Denim Jacket | Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s Maxi | H&M Earrings

Look at me with a drink in my hand.  Thinking I’m grown. Just kidding. I actually don’t drink alcohol.  Never have.  It’s not a moral thing as to why I don’t drink.  I just think it tastes like Nyquil. Yuck!! Whenever I go to a nice events in NYC, 9 times out of 10 there is a liquor drink sponsor.  Which sucks because I don’t drink alcohol. So therefore I go thirsty.

As luck would have it, they actually had a non-alcoholic drink sponsor for the Eric Benét event. Yay me!!  One of the drink sponsors was Q Ginger.  This ginger ale soda tasted yummy.  Vernos is still my favorite, but Q Ginger is a close second.  Since I can’t get Vernos in NYC this is what I will drink to get my ginger ale fix.  It works lovely in my new signature drink.  In fact, I liked Q Ginger so much that I actually wrote them later that night telling them how much I enjoyed their soda.  They wrote me back and said “Thanks for the kind words!  It makes all the hard work worth it.” How sweet! I always like to reach out to brands if I enjoy their product.  It’s so easy now with email.

Did you know Porsche had a store that sold clothes?  I didn’t.  I just knew that I was going to be in someone’s dealership when I got the invite.  Instead it was a nice store filled with sunglasses, bags and clothing.  Who knew? I know I didn’t.  The product was very nice but it will set you back a pretty penny.  Just saying.

I ran into my friend Dawn.  She is a Michigander like myself.  I swear I have met so many metro-Detroiters in NYC.  We are everywhere.

After walking around meeting folks for a little bit, we decided to mosey on up to the front and secure our spots.  I wanted to be like the Jheri curl lady that is always up front at Amateur Night at Apollo.  Eric and I was going to make a connection. 

I swear I make friends every where I go.  This is a picture that was sent to me by the lady to my right.  We all bonded in front of the stage while we waited. 

News correspondent Jeff Johnson introduced Eric.

Finally Eric hit the stage looking sugar sharp in his suit.

And check out his shoes!

I took a few shots of Eric while he was singing.  The first song Eric performed was off his new album.  I don’t listen to the radio so I was unfamiliar but it sounded great.  He still looks handsome. What is it about men that they get better looking with time?

Between the two songs he performed (yes, he only did 2 songs), Eric mentioned that he was taking us back to 1998.  I told him that I was only 8 years old at the time.  He said “yeah, you look like you were only 8”. Ha!  Lord knows, I was far from 8 in 1998.  He then held my hand and sang to me.  I was in heaven from that point on.