There are moments when I gotta pinch myself and ask the question — is this really happening? Is this MY LIFE?

One of those moments took place less than two weeks ago, when I was invited by my friends at Dove to attend Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular at the United Center. I was told I could bring one guest and I almost had a King Solomon moment…but I chose my friend, personal trainer, and little sister from another mister, Renisha of Renewed Fitness. I think it’s pretty safe to say I made her whole MONTH with that one!

Dove invited a very small group of bloggers – there were just five of us (including our guests). And we had great seats! One row up from the floor, and we were seated near one of the major floor entrances of the United Center. From the minute we saw where we were sitting, I told Renisha – watch. Major celebs will be entering through this area. And I turned out to be almost right! More on that later.

Can I just tell you it was SO HARD not writing about this as soon as it happened. I wanted to, but because of Dove’s fantastic relationship and 17 year history of working with The Oprah Winfrey Show, the last thing I wanted to do was spoil ANYTHING online. During the show my phone remained off, and after the show all I could say was this.

So when I finally got home and saw that the whole thang had been livetweeted and spoilers were posted by every media publication around the WORLD, I was like….dang. Not a single surprise was left! The show will finally air today — this morning in Chicago, and this afternoon in the rest of the country. Allow me to tell you my five FAVORITE moments from Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular!

1 –From the moment Tom Hanks took the stage, we knew we were in for something special. And then Tom Cruise surprised Oprah. And then that little girl from America’s Got Talent was joined by Josh Groban. And THEN Miss Patti LaBelle blew the roof off Over The Rainbow — and kicked her shoes off when she hit the high notes — all within the first ten minutes of the show! Patti gave LIFE!!

2 — The whole show was just a cavalcade of stars. Tom Hanks seems like a really genuinely sweet man. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes came across as the Hollywood couple I thought they’d be. Halle Berry and Queen Latifah are gorgeous and seemed so delighted to be there. Diane Sawyer is beautiful and dignified. Madonna was funny and came across as such a cool, regular lady. For the show’s part 2 (which airs tomorrow) Maya Angelou was SO inspiring. Jada Pinkett-Smith is so gorgeous, so tiny, and so stunning. Will Smith is as goofy and hilarious as ever and it was refreshing reminder that he’s not just an A-list actor who kicks butt in action movies. He is now and forever will be The Fresh Prince. I am ready for more Will Smith on TV, just being his funny, silly self. I think I preferred the second part of Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular to part one. Is that blasphemy? It was all amazing, but part two touched me in a special place!

3 — I can now scratch one thing off my bucket list, thanks to Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular. I grew up on Stevie Wonder’s music, and I’ve ALWAYS wanted to see him perform live. It’s been on my list of dreams for a long, long time. I heard rumors that Stevie would perform for Oprah, but I didn’t expect Isn’t She Lovely AND a special song that I believe was previously unreleased. Stevie admitted that he knew it was unscheduled, but God was telling him to perform this song, which was originally written for his mother. Stevie never got to perform it for his mom before she passed away, so he changed the lyrics and sang it to Oprah. I was absolutely verklempt during Stevie. Thankfully there was a box of Kleenex for everyone in attendance at the show!

4 — I mentioned earlier that I sat near a major entrance? I was right and wrong about it. A few celebrities did enter the arena through that entrance — Michael Jordan was like two feet away from me at one point and that was AMAZING!!! But because I sat near that entrance I was able to appreciate one of the surprises that touched Oprah’s heart the most. Maria Shriver and Gayle King spoke so touchingly about Oprah’s emphasis on education, and how that’s been such a mission of hers over the years. In her career, Oprah has provided primary, high school, or college level education for over 60,000 people around the world. And then Tyler Perry took the stage, specifically to speak about Oprah’s support of Morehouse college.

As Tyler Perry spoke (and Oprah was facing him), what seemed like HUNDREDS of Morehouse men came out of the entrance right in front of us. Each was holding a single light, and they surrounded the arena and filled the stage. It was an absolutely magnificent moment to witness, and it brought Oprah to tears.

5 — The musical performances were OFF THE CHAIN. I didn’t love Beyonce’s Girls until watching her kill it not once, but TWICE. Beyonce is a beast. The fact that she does performances that are so physically demanding while wearing six inch heels? I just don’t even understand it! She’s AMAZING. Following Oprah and last night’s Billboard performance…I’m in awe. All hail Queen Bey.

Stevie Wonder’s performance touched me in a special place, but Aretha Franklin brought the CHURCH to the United Center like nobody else could, and for me that was the BIGGEST surprise of them all. Aretha looked beautiful. She killed her performance. She made our hearts swell and then she brought the classic gospel singing and clapping to the United Center. It was such a beautiful moment. And then Usher closed it out with Oh Happy Day. The spectacular ended on such a meaningful note. All the celebrities from the broadcast came out on stage to celebrate the moment.

And then Renisha and I were like…waitaminute is that Tyrese? Where’d he come from? LOL!

It’s been a week since I was blessed enough to witness this all, and I’m still in awe. Thank you, Dove for making this dream come true! I can’t wait for you to see what I saw — the two parts of Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular airs today and tomorrow. And Wednesday will be the last ever episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. It aches to type that!

Are you feeling down about Oprah’s last show? Planning a viewing party? It’s about to be the most highly watched tv show…ever, I’d guess!

As far as I know, all photos here were taken by official Oprah photographer George Burns, and I sourced them via Reuters, the Chicago Tribune, and the Telegraph UK.

Recently I was asked by my friend and fellow expat Trini blogger Karen of Chookooloonks, why I don’t do Outfit Of The Day type posts. There are a few reasons but the main one comes down to…I wear the same thing pretty often. Especially from fall through early spring, my wardrobe is pretty much all boots and jeggings everything. I think there’s an art to the OOTD post. I haven’t mastered the art, and I generally prefer to stay in my lane.

“Well, why not do a Look Of The Month post?” Karen suggested. And that’s an idea I can come closer to getting behind. I can clean up pretty nicely at least once a month. At least once a month there’s some kind of occasion that calls for me to dress up and be cute. And I’ve been occasionally posting what I’ve worn to events anyways. I think I can do this!

What better occasion to debut the Look of the Month than the taping of the second-to-last episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show? It’s hard to think of one, right?

My makeup was done by the amazing Ayeisha King at Urban Decay. The ladies at the Urban Decay counter at Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue in Chicago are THE BOMB.

I was totally bedazzled by this Roller Girl palette, first of all. Urban Decay’s palette has afro chick love all over it! Had to purchase, for sure.

Here’s Ayeisha, with the makeup used for my look. Isn’t she GORGEOUS? Her eye makeup skills are phenomenal.

Let me break down my final look for the Oprah show! And if I look verklempt, it’s because I was. I was just SO THRILLED to be there!

top — orange pintuck lace detail tunic by Boutique Larrieux

jeggings – Asos

boots – Frye, bought on 6pm.com

bag – Betseyville, bought on 6pm.com (no longer available)

earrings – Peace Images.

I was told that beige, white, and black don’t look great on TV, and it was best to wear a bold, punchy color. I immediately envisioned myself in the tunic top designed by Boutique Larrieux, and the boutique’s owner was wonderful enough to bestow this tunic for me for the Oprah taping. It comes from their first ever collection. I love it and got quite a few compliments!

What do you think of my #alphet? I’ll be back with another Look of the Month in June!

Bellas, set Your DVR. Tell the boss you’re taking a personal day! If you’re a big fan of the original female singing group, big fabulous hair, and icons who have earned the title with sweat and talent…you need to see Diana Ross on Oprah this Friday.

And it won’t just be Miss Ross. According to Detroit News, it’s gonna be the whole Ross family including even Diana’s first grandson. The Oprah appearance will launch Diana’s Spring tour, and Diana will be doing her first television performance in four years.

Anyone who has been reading this here blog since day one KNOWS what I’m gonna be doing on Friday! Paying homage to the woman who ignited a love of big hair in this Trini girl’s heart.

Which song will Diana do on Oprah? I can only imagine! But here are my top five hopes.

I’m Coming Out

This would be a no brainer. Diana doing I’m Coming Out on Oprah would shut it DOWN. It’s more than a song, it’s an anthem. And as you can see from this performance, Diana loves singing it and can tell the effect it has on the audience.

Do You Know?

OMG. If Diana blesses the microphone with those seven magical words, please know there will be tears a-flowing here in Chicago. Do You Know Where You’re Going To is the quintessential Diana Ross solo song, the theme from Mahogany, everything.com.

Smile.

Diana’s version of the Charlie Chaplin classic is tender and lovely, and seeing as it was Michael Jackson’s favorite song, Diana singing this would be incredibly poignant and special. An unlikely choice, but one can wish.

Upside Down

Maybe Diana will switch it up and take us back to those Studio 54 days. Upside Down will get Oprah’s audience up and smiling, and who doesn’t love watching Oprah dance and sing along in the crowd?

Reflections

If Diana reaches back into The Supremes material, I hope she sings Reflections. The lyrics speak to so many, and it’d make for a truly majestic return to the televised stage.

Those are my top 5 picks for songs I wish Diana would do on Friday’s Oprah. No matter WHAT she does, I know I’m gonna love it. What are you hoping to hear?

** originally posted on BV Hair Talk.

Oprah with an afro

My favorite part of this week’s much-talked-about episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show where Chris Rock and Solange Knowles talked about Good Hair? That one photo of Oprah back in the Eighties. The one Chris Rock referred to as “the mean news.” Oprah had the fro that dreams are made of! Round, solid, like the Jackson 5 back in the day. That was a fro with power.

I saw Oprah’s Good Hair episode a day late — by the time I watched it, my friends on Twitter and Facebook had basically recapped the whole thing sentence by sentence online. But still, I watched and was pleasantly surprised. In my opinion, Oprah’s hair episode was ten times better than Tyra’s — because she made sure to have balance. Oprah talked about relaxers, she revealed her hair history (and Chris Rock’s!), she was inclusive and featured white women and their own hair struggles (Ali Wentworth’s segment on being blonde was HILARIOUS!). Oprah’s episode was more well rounded in the sense that she attempted to effectively explain the similarities, while still recognizing the enormous differences between black and white hair.

But there was still some points raised that left me scratching my head.

At one point, Chris Rock declares that “women relax their hair for other women, because men don’t care about hair.” Then he goes on and on about when he’s dated Asian and white women in the past, how his hands have been thirsty, and he’s enjoyed running his fingers through their hair. So… which is it? Pick one and stick with it, Chris. In my experience, men DO care about hair. They just try to convince you that they don’t. They may not notice if you subtly change your style. But in general — and in my experience — men will express anguish if you start talking about cutting your hair off, or changing the style dramatically.

Forget kids, Chris Rock will say the darndest things. And he got Oprah to laugh at the craziest stuff. “That’s when you were a slave, huh?” he said about her childhood photograph. “That’s when you were hanging out with Anita Hill!” he said of another. And Oprah laughed and laughed. A little too hard, almost… but I bought it. Hats off to Oprah for befriending a comedian who we all have seen make jokes about her love life. “That lucky Stedman!”

Oprah and Chris Rock talk Good Hair

I bet this Oprah episode was a wake up call for women who haven’t yet educated themselves about their hair, or who haven’t really thought about the reasons they may choose the styles that they do, or question the pain they put themselves through in the name of hair. Certain key points seemed to really resonate with the audience — the declaration that black hair is a 9 billion dollar industry, that Solange Knowles used to spend more than I ever made in a year on weaves and extensions alone, and that little kids are suffering from self esteem problems because of this madness. I absolutely loved the story of the family from Pasadena who Skyped in — Rolondo, Vanessa, and Raven. The mother cut off her hair to better identify with her three year old daughter, who was already struggling with not feeling as pretty as her classmates because of the texture of her natural hair. I thought that was a lovely story. And maybe it’s all in my head, but it seemed a little pointed when Oprah said to the mother “so you cut your hair off. And Chris…made a movie.” It made me wish Malaak Compton-Rock was on the set, just to add in her two cents to the whole Good Hair discussion.

Chris Rock’s Good Hair has already been getting huge buzz, but Oprah just set this film up for even bigger success when it opens October 9. I look forward to going to the theater on opening night, so I can experience it with the rest of America. How will this movie perform at the box office? Will Good Hair start a revolution? Will it lead women to change the way they look at, and consequently treat their hair? Only time will tell, I suppose.

What did you think?

You are probably sick of me blah-blah-blahing about Twitter by now… but I gotta talk about this tweet right here about Oprah’s hair.

On her show last Friday afternoon, Oprah defiantly declared — I’m not wearing a weave! And then she proceeded to display a photo of her actual hair, as it looks before she “gets pressed and curled in the morning.”

This has left me with more questions than answers. Let’s go to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBjtkm7UnPc

I am by no means a weave detective as many others claim to be. I can’t spot a weave a mile away, and I’ve learned more than once not to assume anything about another woman’s hair. But I will admit, I just kind of assumed Oprah wore hair pieces, or wigs, or some kind of synthetic assistance — just because she’s on TV every day!

Every day she’s under hot lights, and after getting made up she’s getting her hair styled straight, curly, and all points in between. I mean, Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton even have their own brands of hair available for sale. Why wouldn’t I assume Oprah’s wearing tracks of assisted hair for the camera, when just about every other celebrity does the same thing?

The photo Oprah displayed left me a little confused. I’m sure it’s because I haven’t used chemical relaxers in so long, I have a hard time playing hair detective. Is Oprah’s hair relaxed? Or wait — is it thermal heat straightened? But she still she uses heat to press and curl it every day? And despite all of that, it looks really long and thick and healthy! Ooooh, what hair products does Oprah use? I bet she’s got the best deep conditioning treatments known to man!

So I’m putting a public request out there — Oprah, please do a show about this topic. In the past you’ve offered curly girls straight-hair makeovers, and there’s SO much to discuss when it comes to hair issues. And now that you’ve shared that photo with the world, inquiring minds wanna know! At the very least, please spill the deetz about your favorite hair care products. We all know you’re a woman with favorites! Introduce us fans to the best of the best. And if you’re down for a fun, frank discussion about natural hair, Afrobella’s forever your girl!

So bellas — what questions would you want to ask Oprah about her hair? Don’t leave me hangin’ — I know I’m not the only one with questions about Oprah’s hair!

I wear it every day and obsess over my favorite kind, but even this beauty blogger knows that this isn’t the time to be talking about lipstick.

I don’t care if it’s a pitbull or a pig or whatever kind of animal metaphor our political candidates are using here. And it doesn’t really matter to me who said the stupid phrase first — what bothers me the most is that this whole Drudged up lipstick hubbub — just like the Oprah thing — seems to me, to be a blatantly obvious distraction from the real issues that this country needs to focus on.

And from a gander at the headlines today, it’s working brilliantly.

Instead of lipstick, I’d like to hear the candidates address their solutions for the issues we’re not talking about. The 800 pound gorillas in the room, like mounting poverty. Like the terrifying rate of job losses. Like the plight of our soldiers when they return home from war. Some fine young men and women are returning home haunted by their experiences, and broken in body and mind. I just saw on the news today that the suicide rate of active duty soldiers is set to exceed the rate among the general US population. That hasn’t happened since Vietnam. That’s all kinds of sad and scary. Can we talk about how we’re going to help our troops, both now and later?

On the eve of September 11, can we talk about finding the terrorists responsible for the attack in the first place? Seven years later, and the official White House response to not finding Osama Bin Laden, is “This is not the movies. We don’t have super powers.” Can we talk about why resources aren’t being used more wisely to that end? Can we talk about the economy, education, health care, and dealing with this ongoing war on drugs that’s only succeeding in breaking the prison system?

We’ve got 56 days until the election. Can the politicians on either side of the divide lay off the trivial BS like lipstick, and talk about something real?