Her First Holiday Turkey!!!

Greetings Family! Well we are into the holiday season full swing and boy am I tired!!! Now you know that the holidays are a Foodies favorite time of year. So many recipes so little room in your stomach to try them all! Well......I hosted Thanksgiving this year, at my house, for the first time. This was a major big deal. I thought, ok I have every magazine and cookbook and have watched all of the food network holiday specials two times. I can do this!! I also thought that I would start with a small gathering to ease myself into this tradition. Well the ghosts of Thanksgiving past decided that I should have a house full of people. Ok, plan B to have everyone contribute to the festivities so a Foodie like myself didn't have a melt down. My mother and I planned the menu and gave everyone their assignments. My mother, aka, hostess extraordinaire, helped with the decorating and table setting and seating as well. I have big shoes to fill to follow my Mom. She is my hostess and decorating inspiration in life!! I made my shopping list and hit the store. I must admit however, that I had never cooked a turkey before. How hard could it be. Just like a big chicken right!! Well this is where my mother-in-law came in to save me. She stayed with us over the holiday and cooked her famous potato salad and her greens and cakes. She showed me how to prep and season the turkey. She even got up early in the morning to put the bird in the oven so it would be ready for our company!! I am forever grateful to her for this lesson. Now that is the type of mother-in-law that I hope all of you have! I made glazed carrots, cornbread stuffing and my sweet potato pies! My aunties made baked salmon, sweet potatoes and string beans. Tricia baked us a ham (you must accommodate the pork eating guests!!) and made her fabulous desserts. Yummy!! My mother made fantastic herb roasted chicken and her famous macaroni and cheese. Now I must inform everyone that there was a near riot because my mother only had one pan because she left the other one home! We worked it out though and everyone had plenty. Dawn made her famous..... she whipped up some.....well Dawn brought the bread!! Our creative genius makes body butter not things with real butter in them lol! We prayed over the food and our home and everyone had a great time. Everyone stayed for a long time with their bellies very full which is the sign of a good holiday dinner. They left with plenty of food to take home for left overs. All in all, it was a very successful first Thanksgiving. I couldn't have done any of it without everyone's help. I also want to give a special thanks to my husband who moved more furtniture and hung more curtain rods then he thought possible. Thanks hubby!! Just in case you are wondering….we will be celebrating Christmas at my parents' house!! Here is wishing everyone a good eating, happy and healthy holiday!!!

Flying the friendly skies

Well family Will and Wes took their first airplane ride for Thanksgiving two weeks ago and of course it went the way it usually goes......Crazy!!!
Our flight was at 6:30am so we had to get up by 4:30am, everyone was excited so they moved pretty quickly. We got to the airport's long term parking and ran for the bus to take us to the airport. (Now if you've ever run with small children more than likely your not gonna make it.) We missed the bus of course, but that was okay because 10 minutes later another one came.
We make it inside and wait on the longest line in the history of mankind, thats when people started getting a little antsy. "Why is this taking so long," " I'm hungry" "Why are all of these people here?" "I'm hungry"" Where is the plane?" "I'm hungry" So I just had to tune them out. Finally we get to the point where we have to take off our coats and shoes and put them and our luggage in a bin (easier said than done!) I had explained all of this before hand but of course nobody remembered....."Why do I have to take off my shoes?" "I'm cold I want to leave my coat on?"" This bag is heavy!" "I'm hungry". William finally got all of his stuff off and in the bin goes through the metal detector and makes it to the other side. Meanwhile I'm taking off mine and Wesley's sneakers, coats, and bookbags and trying to stop Wesley from running all the way past the other side without his sneakers, coat and backpack! Not to worry we get stopped on the other side because the x-ray picked up something in Will's backpack. As we are lead over to the side like common criminals Will is shouting at me "Why Mommy Why! What did you put in my backpack!"
Everyone is looking at us. Of course it was our snack bag, (which every good parent carries, if you care about your kids and your money!) all of our juices, chips and and sweetsnacks.While the agent explains that certain things can't go through, I hear another agent yelling "Who's luggage is this?" I look over and of course its mine, through all of the commotion I had forgotten to put my luggage on the belt. People started shrinking away from my luggage like it was a monster. " Its mine" I call out holding onto Wesley so he doesn't get away. Now I'm on one side and my luggage is on the other, you would think they would pick my luggage up and put it on the belt for me. NO the agents all just kind of stood there looking at it, finally another passenger picked it up and put it in a bin and sent it to me. (Thanks again guy!) We finally wrap up with the first agent (she let us keep our juices :)
make our way to the gate and got on our plane! Will and Wes were very good on the plane and were even able to sit in the cockpit, where they got their wings! I just decided not to think about the trip home!

Our Family Vacation

Happy Thanksgiving Pooka Family! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Wale, Taiye & I went on vacation right before Thanksgiving. Wale and I like going to non-traditional vacation spots i.e. for our honeymoon we went to Bali, then the following year we went to Phuket, Indonesia, but now that we have Taiye, we need to be a little more conservative with our choices so this year we went to Costa Rica. Taiye did great on the flight coming and going. When we touched down at our layover the gentleman behind us said that she was the best baby he'd ever flown with! While in Costa Rica, Taiye stole the show again! Every morning when we went to breakfast the hostess and the waitresses would come over and ask if they could take her while we were eating our breakfast. I let them take her but I told Wale to keep his eye on them! I made sure I took a picture of them because if our baby came up missing I knew who to look for!

Unfortunately we didn't get to do the things we normally like to do when we vacation like exploring the native country sites outside of the resort: the rainforest, visiting the volcano, horseback riding. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time just being together as a family! I'm looking forward to next year's family vacation. If you've visited any baby-friendly or kid-friendly resorts please let me know!

The more things change…..the more they CHANGE!

Well Pooka family this weekend we had our new Pookalita photo shoot!
We decided to do so after going to an event, putting up our official Pookalita
poster(above) and overhearing a young gentlemen saying “Well where are the girls in that picture?” DEVESTATING, LOL! Here we are putting up that photo everywhere we go and not even considering that it was 6 ½ years old. So, we decided to have a new and updated photo shoot. The morning of the shoot, we all met at Pooka and decided to re-do our old shoot. “No problem” we thought. Well after looking at the old pictures and looking in the mirror we all decided, THINGS had CHANGED! We donned our spanx, and stage make-up(things we didn’t need 6 ½ years ago) and sat in front of the camera. We tried to recreate our official Pookalita picture, but it seemed we weren’t even the same height anymore! Could osteoperosis have shrunk us already, its only been 6 ½ years! Then we decided to add the kids in the photo, only Will was here the first time, now there were 2 more! Where did they come from?! Well we sucked it in, held our breath and smiled and all in all we had a great day, but I think the statement now goes, “The more things change, they more they stay the same IN YOUR MIND!” Below are 2 pics from our new photo shoot, more to come!
ps. We saved our energy to do that one jumpy shot after that the shoot was OVER!LOL!

Are You In?!!!!

Of all black fourth graders, 58% are functionally illiterate

Everyday 1,000 black children are arrested

One in every eight African American males (Ages 25-29) is incarcerated

OUR CHILDREN ARE IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY!!!!

Greetings Pooka Family!

I need to talk about something that is very dear to my heart. Service. We were all excited when President Obama asked us to do our part as members of this global community. Everyone has good intentions but we sometimes need direction as to how to go about service. I am giving all of you an opportunity to start right now! I have recently joined the Greater Newark CARES Mentoring movement. This is part of a national movement started by Susan L Taylor, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Essence magazine. Her vision for this mentoring movement is truly awesome! The Newark chapter is proud to be the 56^th in the country!! This movement is asking for 4 hours a month of your time. That is it!! Four hours of your time to change someone’s life. This is not about adopting a young person. This is about encouraging, being there and just showing up consistently to effect change. Talking is mentoring. We don’t realize the power of our words. So Pooka family I am challenging all of you to do your part. If you are in the Greater Newark area and are interested in mentoring please send an email to NewarkCARES@gmail.com with “I Want to Mentor-Pooka” in the subject line. We will contact you. If you are outside of this area you can connect with one of the local National chapters. Visit www.caresmentoring.com Put in your zip code and it will locate the chapter closet to you. We want our Pooka family to represent like we know they can. Sign up today!! ARE YOU IN!!

Bert and Ernie....Fitch!

Well guys you know I always have to share silly things that crack me up! Last week about 7:00 in the morning a text came through my phone and it was from Donna. I rolled over and read it and it was in all exclamation points!!! She said, "I'm on the train and I'm looking at a poster of Bert and Ernie and that's me and you!!!! "Bert is looking very serious and Ernie has his arm around his shoulder goofing off!!! I emailed her back and we cracked up and laughed. For those of you who don't know last week was the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, pictures were everywhere. Later that day I started to think about this...HEY.....Wait a minute!! Bert was the serious, smart, tall and lean one and Ernie was the silly, short, round one, just what was she trying to say! LOL! But growing up we both loved Sesame Street, I think we all grew up on it, then it hit me that Sesame Street was 40 years old!!! I screamed, I'm older than Sesame Street!!! The only thing that gave me some joy was that Donna was a lot older than Sesame Street, so what did I do? Yup, called her right away to remind her of this fact. I told her while, I, Ernie, was laying in a crib napping, she came running home from school (yup old enough to be in school) to announce to my parents that a new show was coming on called SESAME STREET!!!! Now that's old! I asked her if she remembered when Gone With the Wind came out in the movies? She did not find that funny! But people even though me and my sister are both older than sesame street, we have fond memories and we'll always be Bert and Ernie Fitch!

Reclaiming the Boob!

One of the many things I was looking forward to when I had Taiye was breastfeeding. The doctors as well as all the information I'd read said that breastfeeding is the best gift you can give to your child. It's loving, natural, builds a strong bond between you and your child and also starts them off on a solid nutritional foundation for life! Coming from a family which struggles with obesity and not eating right I was determined not to set my daughter down that path. I knew from day one of my pregnancy that this is what I wanted to do. Of course, I'd heard the horror stories as well i.e. it's painful, sometimes the baby doesn't latch on correctly, thrust, it's time consuming etc., etc. Nevertheless, I was not deterred. And so when March 23rd came and the nurse put Taiye on my chest to start nursing my hope was validated..she latched right on and began sucking away! Fast forward 7 months and 2 weeks later; Taiye is still sucking! She's sucking in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and at midnight, 2 AM, 5 AM! She's just sucking, sucking, sucking! Taiye will put her hand down my shirt and underneath my breast to push it up and start sucking (yes gravity has begun to descend in that area). And she doesn't care where we are! We could be at the restaurant eating dinner and she'll reach for my boobs. Not wanting to deny my child, I oblige and get the arched eyes from Dawn and Wale like ugh.can you cover up a little? I can't help it if she hates having the blanket cover her while she's eating. She's nosy and still wants to see what's going on even though she's eating.

So family, what do I do to get this chick off of my boob! It's past the 6 month milestone and I've tried to introduce the soft solid foods to her but she will not eat it. I don't know if she doesn't like the consistency of the baby food -which by the way I am making myself. I went to William and Sonoma and brought the Beaba baby food maker which does everything in one appliance! And I brought the baby-safe ice trays to freeze the baby food for storage and I bought the book on how and what baby foods to make. I spent close to $200 on all of this stuff and Taiye still will not eat the baby food.she just wants the boob! You know that saying, "be careful what you pray for, you just might get it"? Well, that's how I'm feeling. Nevertheless, I still cherish and love the fact that I am able to breastfeed my daughter. I know that she will be healthier and stronger for this sacrifice. So if you see me at the warehouse on Saturday, don't be surprised if I have Taiye on my lap feeding while I'm ringing up your order!

Beauty Bailout!

We did it!

Well family after much prayer and soul searching,I packed my little family up and we moved to North Carolina! I know that some of you already know, and some of you are like WHAT? I think there comes a time in everyones life that you have to let go of your fears and trust that GOD is going to see you through whatever your issues are.
It sounds easier than it looks, I know but if God puts something in your heart to do, you gotta do it. Moving away from my family and friends, just me and the boys didn't sound right to anybody at the time but now that we did it they can see how happy we are! The boys love their new house! Will and Wes are doing well in school and they are both making friends! I'm happy also and can't wait for everyone to visit. God has a wonderful, fullfilling life for all of us, but WE have to have faith to reach out and grab it. You can do it! And don't worry Jersey we will be visiting often! But if your in our neck of the woods, y'all come on over and see us sometime ya here!

PS Pooka South is getting ready to blow up, LOL!

Sweaters and Flip Flops!

Greetings family! Yes it is me. The summer has gone by and I haven’t talked to you. I hope you enjoyed it, such as it was. The weather did not cooperate at all!! I feel very cheated. Well now it has decided to become Fall right on schedule. Family I am holding out. I am not ready. My sweaters are packed very far away, my Fall shoes neatly in their boxes. Who are these people that look like they stepped out of a Fall fashion catalog the first cool day of the season. Now, I do plan to look fabulous this winter. I am going to be a frugalista like they say in the Target commercial. That’s right…all my clothes will come from Target much to my husband’s annoyance! (Those who know my husband will completely understand) He does not realize this leaves me more money to spend on shoes and pocketbooks. So for all of you passing me by with your sweaters, and boots and shawls and fabulous coats I say… you look marvelous. I just ask that you not make fun of the woman looking cold, wearing her summer sweater and flip flops. It will probably be me!

Donna

In the spirit of Sisterhood!!!!

This weekend in preparing for Circle of Sisters I started to reflect on sisterhood! You know what happens when I start to reflect…..I started thinking about all of my “sisters” that I have been blessed to have in my life! Take a moment and just think about all you’ve been through and who has been with you by your side! I love to think about growing up and when I do, I have to think about my sister! I have some funny sister stories that Donna would actually shoot me If I wrote, but let me just share one….
I remember going out to buy a car by myself, now, my father warned me “DAWN DON’T BUY ANYTHING JUST LOOK!!” “Of course dad”, I replied, “I’m just going to do some research.” I thought about this conversation as I drove my new Honda Prelude off the lot! I was almost in tears as I drove home because I knew I shouldn’t have purchased this car, but they really got me and it was all shiny and new! My first call was to my sister in tears I said, Donna! I bought a car, daddy told me don’t buy anything and I did and I think they ripped me off!!!” . I went home a upset, not wanting to call my father and tell him the news and then I heard the doorbell. It was my sister with her overnight bag! She laid on the couch and went to sleep, I didn’t even talk to her, but just knowing she was there gave me comfort. We got up the next morning and she called my father and told him I bought the car. I could hear my father just losing it! Man I was so glad I wasn’t on that phone. Well the next morning I went back to the Honda dealer with my father and he quickly went down the list of all the places I had been ripped off and after they changed a lot and lowered the price, I happily drove off the lot. I have to say my sister has always come through for me and she was also there for me 1 month later when that car was stolen!!! I’ll wait until next time to tell you the call Donna got when I worked as a bank teller and got held up!!! Ahhhh………..I love my sister!

Getting kicked out of my own bed!

Hey Pooka Family! It's me! Six months into being a new mom and I still love every minute! Okay, well, not every minute, like when Taiye doesn't want to sleep in her own bed! She actually started out good with sleeping in her crib but there was one time I let her come and sleep with me and Wale and that was all she wrote! Now she starts out in her crib at bedtime (between 9-9:30PM) but when she wakes up for her 12AM feeding, she doesn't want to get back into her crib! She wants to stay up and talk and play and sing (yes, sing! I think this chick is going to be an opera singer because she belts those notes out like Kathleen Battle)! When she is finally ready to go back to sleep she screams bloody murder when I gently lay her in her crib. Well I'm exhausted after all that midnight playing so I give in and bring her into our room and let her lay down with us. Now of course my wonderful husband wakes up (only for a second) to ask if I need some water then he instantly falls back to sleep. So I'm left lying on the edge of the bed with Taiye's hand on my boob ready to squeeze out her next milk supply. Ahhhhhh Motherhood...but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Coyote Ugly!?

Well people I must be on a roll this month, let me tell you about my newest adventure....a friend of mine just opened a new restaurant/bar. I told him that I'd love to help out, we can all use some extra cash, so he says "sure, I got a great idea why don't you bartend!" Now I've never tended bar in my entire life but hey I thought this could be fun so I agreed. He told his bar manager and the manager agreed to give me some on the job training. Now I'm excited, we've all seen the movie Coyote Ugly, I couldn't wait to go home and get my bartendin outfit ready, which included some sassy black heels! Well let me tell you about this "Coyote Ugly" night people! I got there and figured I'd be cutting lemons and filling the olive bin, WRONG I was learning the correct amount of alcohol to pour, how to use the bar computer system, make long island iced teas and more! "Wait a minute?!!, Did I just unknowingly sign up for a real job??!!!!! What was I thinking! But now it was too late, I was working with another bartender and she was awesome, she told me how to make things and taught me a lot and then, that's when it happened.....customers started pouring in and flocked to the bar for drinks, I was frozen and people started calling to get my attention and place drink orders, I stared getting frazzled! I was becoming undone!!! So what did I do? Yup, I went "Dawnie style", I broke out into a rendition of "On the good ship lollypop" and then I threw myself onto the floor and did the worm, stood up and recited poetry and for the finale I put up my easel and started painting peoples portraits,(thank God I remembered to bring that bag of props!) "Ta Da!!!!" But there was no applause! I thought for sure if I did the "Dawny show" they would forget all about ordering drinks! I didn't know what went wrong my parents always loved that show! I decided to buckle down and try and help this other bar tender, I was pouring beer and wine and when I got drink order I didn't know she would call out, (discreetly, thank goodness) what was in it so I could make it. Now I was extremely busy but had the audacity to grab my phone and text Donna, Tricia and April a one lined text "Coyote ugly SOS, man down!" And you know my girls shot me back words of encouragement, including "Get out of there!" And "Did you send that package to Whole Foods?", and the ever popular, "Do you want me to come get you?!" You guys know I'm just kidding, they were very supportive as usual! My feet were killing me, what possessed me to put on heels? When I looked down I realized that somewhere during my show I must have put my shoes back on the wrong feet, well that’s what it felt like! After about 3 hours I was kind of, yes I repeat, kind of holding my own! People would call out a drink order and slowly, I began to get it. I put my hand up like Larry Fishburne in the Matrix and motioned for them to give me more, I was slowly dodging bullets, like Neo, I was becoming...THE ONE!!! Okay, okay I wasn't that good but I was feelin good. At the end of the night we counted our tips and we did a couple of hundred dollars each!!!! I have been bitten by the bar bug! So if you come in and see me at the bar, sit down and wait for the next "Dawny Show", It's usually every 10 minutes or when an unknown drink order is thrown my way!

My Jan Brady Moment……(or week)

Well of course I must share my most silly moments with my Pooka family!
One day last weekend I had nothing to do so I decided to have a “Me day”, (you know sit in the park, playing sappy songs, while looking at the sky dramatically). I sat at the computer for about 20 minutes and downloaded “Me day” songs for my ipod and planned to take a blanket and go to the park. I was dressed, had eaten, pretended to clean my apt. and had my bag on my shoulder and just as I disconnected my ipod the screen went black, now for those of you who know me, I love my music! My ipod had broken previously and when I took it to the apple store they declared my ipod officially dead but, whatever they did that day resuscitated it. I knew I was living on borrowed ipod time. This was my “Me day” how could my ipod give up on this day when I needed it most!!! I tried everything and nothing worked, black screen, ipod…………gone. So this is when I flew into my Jan Brady moment(for those of you who don’t know Jan Brady was the dramatic middle child from the Brady Bunch!) I threw, yup threw my ipod at the wall and flung myself on my bed! "How could this happen to me?! I need to get to the park and stare at the sky!!!" I thought. Now, you have to give me credit for realizing how dramatic and extra corny this was, people are starving in Africa, but I’ve got no music!!! I preceded to cry, yes, I actually cried in frustration and then......I, fell asleep!(sleep must be like a magic potion for me if you read my "Always the Kid" post) I woke up about 4 hours later and still mad went back to sleep! I slept the entire day, what kind of fool was I, LOL!!! I got up later and made myself some dinner and went to bed for real. The next morning I woke up and decided to check out some new ipods, no buying, cause it wasn't in my budget. I went to Best Buy just to see what Ipods they had. I was so happy that I found the ipod shuffle and only $80 bucks so I got it! I got home and loaded all of my songs before I realized it had no screen! I was so impressed with the tiny size I didn’t realize that I couldn't see the songs and had to scroll through all of my hundreds of songs one by one! I took a deep breath and talked myself down from my Jan Brady ledge! So the next morning went back to best buy and found my sales guy and explained why I didn’t want it. After laying out another $90(not in my budget) I upgraded to the ipodnano, which I loved. I ran home put all my songs on but it was raining so I couldn’t go to the park and have my rescheduled “Me day”. That night I got an email from the apple website talking about the launch THAT NEXT DAY of the new ipod nano with the video camera!!! Are you kidding me I just got this one!!!! So what did I do in the morning, yup? Marched right back to best buy AGAIN and demanded a replacement for the ipod I just bought the day before. This was my 3rd ipod in 3 days! "Okay, Miss Fitch", the sales lady said and I quickly corrected her, "No, I’m Jan Brady!". They gave me my 3rd new ipod but I needed some accessories, that i paid another $80 for! So now people I think I’ve spent about $1000 for my ipod and my peace of mind(the little I have left) I just had to share this story of dramatic Jan Bradyism for me, now.....to the park I go for "ME DAY" with my new ipod nano with the video camera so i can record myself staring at the sky!!!(5 days later!)

MJ Forever!!!!!

Okay I'm not going to go into how much I loved Michael Jackson, I'm going to show you how I've passed the love onto my kids, enjoy! Wil is the one with the solo, lime green shirt and purple MJ hat, Wes is the little guy in the front with the hat who just CAN'T STOP MOVING!!! GO MJ, GO!

I need a job!

Okay so now that I'm not working I decided to join facebook. I am probably the only person not on it at this point so now that I have a little time on my hands I decided to join. After joining facebook, I renewed my linked-in account, my twitter account and my East Orange High School Panther Networking group. Okay so NOW I have no time to look for a job! I get up in the morning get the kids off to camp and then I'm on the computer for the next four hours trying to keep socially connected with everyone! Not only do you have to be connected but THEN you have to have something to say! And it better be witty, deep, or funny! How much can I make up? How much do I want to share? How much do people want to hear? I get a million messages from facebook, then its on to twitter to talk about what I'm doing, or not doing ( I went to the gym this morning! NOT!!!) then onto linked-in to talk up job prospects, then to EOHS to talk to old high school friends. I need a break, but you can't take a break because then everyone is like where are you, what happened? And then you have to answer a whole new set of questions! My life was a lot easier when I didn't have to entertain or answer to 2 thousand other people!
Why can't everyone just read the Pookalita Blog and be done with it?

Help us Win!!!

Hi Folks!
We need your help! We've entered the Shine Your Light Inspiring Business contest and we would love it if you'd vote for us. Just click on the title of this blog (Help us Win!!) above and it will take you to the site.

thanks again!!

Love Letter to Michael

Dear Michael,
I miss you...more than I thought I ever would. We have been friends for so long that I never thought a time would come when you wouldn't be with me. We grew up together as old friends do. I had such a crush on you! Not a secret crush because it was shared by many. I always thought that I loved you the most though! You were so talented and so cute. Your music touched my soul and colored my life. As I grew from childhood to adulthood so did you. I felt you change in the words you wrote and the songs you sang. I watched as a friend, when your face was often covered and your skin was no longer the same as mine. Dear Michael. I watched as a friend, when they said so many things about you. Dear Michael. I watched as a friend, as you became a husband and a father. Dear Michael. I watched as a friend, when you were in physical and emotional pain. Dear Michael. I watched as a friend, as you touched people across gender, class, and color lines as only the King of Pop could. I watched as a friend, as your sense of charity was matched by no other. I watched as a friend, as your music continued to touch us from decade to decade. I watched as a friend, when the entire world wished you an emotional and very personal, fond farewell. My Dear Friend Michael....may you finally rest in peace.

Love Donna

Always "the Kids"!

Its funny even at_____ yrs old(LOL)my parents still think of Donna, Douglas and myself as "the kids". No matter what we do we still have that title. I used to laugh about this thinking, we're all responsible adults! I learned very quickly on my excursion to AC that thank GOD I was still the "kid" LOL! My parents got a room at the Water Club in Atlantic City for 2 days and asked if I wanted to tag along....."YES!", said the "kid". Unfortunately there was a lot of work piling up at Pooka and I told them that I probably couldn't get away. Sunday before they were leaving they called and said meet them at Pooka! They worked all day with the "kid" so I could go on their trip!!! On Monday I met them at their house and for some reason I turned into the "kid" for real! "When are we leaving?" "I'm hungry!" "Ahh...daddy has to stop at the bank!!!!" "You didn't get gas yesterday!?!?" As I flopped around in the back seat of the car I realized I was giving William and Wesley a run for their money!!! Eventually, luckily for my parents the "kid" fell asleep until we arrived at AC. Our first stop was to visit the spa where my father treated my mother and the "kid" to facials (Hey, mommy and me days aren't just for the little kids!) Afterwards, I quickly put on my swimsuit and went to the pool, deciding to meet my parents later. At the pool I ordered some lunch and when I went to pay they told me they charged it to the room. Wow this "kid" thing is workin! That night After our first day I was exhausted so I went upstairs by myself to go to bed. I had forgotten my contact case so I put my contacts into some drinking glasses with a note in front of them and just for extra security put a bottle of saline in front of the contraption. When I woke up the next morning and went into the bathroom I almost passed out as I saw the 2 glasses neatly cleaned on the sink!!!"Who used the glasses?" I screamed. My father cringed and said that we was disgusted that the hotel would leave dirty glasses out so he rinsed them and unknowingly sent my contacts down the drain. Well he must have thought if he blinded the "kid" I'd stay out of trouble but oh no I just whipped out my glasses and ran to get my comped (by my parents)breakfast! That afternoon I slipped right back to 5rs old, ordering things and charging it to the room, while my parents were downstairs I perused the mini-bar and snack items, before I knew it I had ripped open a box of junk food and ate it deciding to put the empty box neatly back in its place!(Hello! that's what kids do!) After my snack I went to the casino looking for my parents and realized that looking sad at the slots usually got me a $20 from my mom and breathing down my fathers neck while he played and saying, "da...you should cash out...da...you're up to 5 dollars..." usually got me a $20 and a beat it from him! We went out later and had a great dinner and I really did try to offer some cash but my father waived me off, at this point I was thinking about getting another tattoo saying "the kid forever!" Well I had the most fabulous time with my WONDERFUL parents. The next time they go somewhere they should choose an adults only place! NO "KID" ALLOWED!

Ps: please don't hold my bratty behavior against me the "kid" is a hard habit to break, LOL!!

Michael

Hey Pooka family, I don't know about you, but I'm still trying to come to grips with the death of Michael Jackson. Despite all his eccentric behavior in the past, he is still a part of my childhood and continues to hold a place in my heart. I am so disgusted with his father's behavior pre and post his death as well as all the other bloodsuckers so much so that I refuse to watch or read any more media press about Michael. I want to remember the good times of when I saw him in concert in Philly and of his groundbreaking videos and of his humanitarian efforts in Africa and across the world when everyone embraced "We are the World!" My uncle sent an email the other day reminiscing of when he took my cousin Karen to her first Jackson concert. That in turn sparked my other uncle to email about the time when he was stationed in Germany and he took my cousin Jessica to a Jackson concert. Then the email chain continued throughout our family. I thought it would be nice if our Pooka family would do the same i.e. tells us about your memory of seeing a Michael Jackson concert or any Michael memorable event. Hit us on Twitter, Facebook or the Pookalitas blog and tell us about your Michael experience. Let's keep the positive memories flowing so we can stamp out all the negative press!

My Jackson Five!

I miss Michael Jackson. When I look back at it Michael Jackson has been through every part of my life with me. He was definitely my first crush, Donna and I would argue over who gets Michael and she would have the nerve to always throw Marlin or Randy my way(sorry guys) but I held out for Michael all the time. We would put that record on and played it until the grooves wore off and it was funny because growing up we lived on one floor and we played that record in our living room for hours and just recently Donna and I looked at each other and said, "Where were mommy and daddy?" I asked my mother and she just laughed, "Yes girls, your father and I were very patient, LOL!". We actually saved our own money to buy that album which made it even more special and our very first concert, yup, the Jacksons. We've known them our entire lives. Growing up we would play Jackson Five with friends of our family and we would do all the steps. We each had fedora hats borrowed from our dads (except for me, now that I think about it,since I was the youngest and we were out of cool hats, they always made me wear my ski cap, not cool guys, not cool) and sang all night long. There was always a song along my path to adulthood from "ABC" to "Thriller" to "You give me Butterflies". And please tell me what girl didn't put on the knee pads and straighten out her bangs and try to jump over a chair like Janet did in the pleasure principle?!!!Who else except family has been with you through everything! I will always love Michael Jackson, The Jacksons and Janet! yeah, yeah randy and marlon too, Donna!

We're Havin a Par-Tay!!!!

Hello Pooka People!


Hope everyone is having a blessed week! Just wanted to drop you a note to invite you to our Pineapple Summer Splash! For all of you people who call me all year long and ask me, "Why is the pineapple gone!!!?", this day is for you! Every year around this time we bring back everything Pineapple for one day. We make a great day of it, we make food, have a fabulous DJ and pass out Pineapple Pookaladas! I hope you can drop by and officially launch summer with us. If you're out of town our delicious pineapple products will be on the website for just one day, Saturday June 27 or you can call in and place an order. Make sure to check back next week when we put up the pictures, you might see yourself gettin your dance on, LOL!

See Ya Saturday!

Saturday June 27, 2009
Pooka Warehouse
364 Glenwood Ave.
East Orange, NJ
973-954-2471
10:00am-4:00pm

Our Not So Sex in the City Day Out!

Well Pooka family I’m here to tell you things have changed! Remember the sassy girls who put on their stilettos and had cosmos and dinner before going to see sex in the city? Yeah, well they’re gone! This Friday April and Wesley invited us to Williams (her 7 yr old) spring concert. So Tricia, Taiye and myself went and it was so very cute.. We decided to go out to lunch at Tricia’s favorite place PF Changs(she also suggested Cuban Petes but you all remember what happened the last time she had the Ricky Riccardo!) Now why we would take 3 children to PF Changs we’re still trying to figure that one out! We sat down at our nicely set table knowing that wouldn’t last. We all ordered and William told me he wanted Shrimp my man! (aka Shrimp lo mein, cute!) During our tasty meal as I was sipping on an Organic Agave Nectar Martini(you heard right an organic martini! Guilt free drinkin) William whispers to his mom “Yuck, I don’t want to see auntie dawns B-U-T-T!(and he had the nerve to spell it out!) Nothing makes you realize quicker that the time for wearing low riders has passed than hearing a “Yuck!” As I slowly tucked my butt fat back in my jeans I quietly ate the rest of my meal. When Tricia whipped out a boob to feed Taiye it was then that I knew we were no longer hip and sassy, no sex in the city here! Wesley drummed on the table with his chopsticks for the entire meal and managed to only poke himself in the eye once before falling out of the booster seat landing under the table. I was tempted to just pass him his plate under there and let him finish, it would have definitely been quieter! I licked the inside of my Organic Martini glass hoping to find just one more drop to get me through the rest of dinner, but no luck! Our table now looked like a war zone it was definitley time to go home. Will, April and Wes had gone to the bathroom, Tricia and I were paying the bill when an older gentleman walked by our table with Will following close behind him. Tricia and I just stared blanlky as William ran after this man, we hear, "excuse me, excuse me" and then William has a quick conversation with him and walks back to the table. We ask him what he said to the man and he says "I told him he didn't wash his hands in the bathroom that's disgusting!!!" Tricia and I exploded with laughter as we were wondered if we were going to have to fight this now angry gentlemen! April returned from the bathroom with Wesley and a toilet paper trail stuck to his shoe. We quickly exited the restaurant. So people while we are definitely not wearing stilettos we're going to make a conscious effort to not throw on our orthopedic shoes just yet!

New Jersey's Newest Hot Spot

Hey Pooka Family! You have to check out New Jersey's newest Hot Spot! You know how we're always saying, "There's no mature adult spot for us to hang out." Well, this is it..the VIP Game Lounge is the new thing to do! I had such a great time Friday night @ the Game Lounge! I am so very proud of Joe Campbell, the proprietor of the VIP Game Lounge, because he's created an event for the mature crowd (i.e. 28 and older seemed to be the age range) to go to and have a great time! The Game Lounge travels to different locations so you have to check out the website to see where it will be next (http://www.vipgamelounge.com/). Friday's Game Lounge was at the Newark Marriott Hotel. It was a great space for it because it was large room, parking was free with the passes Joe provided, you don't have to wait in a long line to get in, and there was food & drinks and some nice neo-soul music. We played Taboo, Pookalita Pictionary, Wii, Bid Whisk, Spades, etc. Now the girls will tell you, I am very competitive so I let my hair down when it comes to Spades. I met some new friend's playing cards that night. Sedica was my partner in Spades and next time Sedica, I promise not to be so conservative with my bidding. Next time we will run Boston's on everyone who sits at our table! Also, don't get me started about Pookalita Pictionary! It was the guys against the girls and let me tell you family..the guys cheat! Ladies, we know we won that game! I'm telling you family, we had a good time! And I got home just in time for Taiye's 2 AM feeding.

The next VIP Game Lounge will be at NJPAC on Friday June 26th. I am looking forward to it. Hope you guys will come and check it out.and don't forget to bring your "A" Game! One more thing Family, there's also a Gospel VIP Game Lounge. Check out the website for the date and time for that one also.

The Nose knows!

Okay so everybody knows I have two children, William (7) and Wesley (3). Now you would think that having two of the same sex children would be easy right? I mean whatever you did for the first one that worked should work on the second, WRONG!!!!! I have two completely different children, that Wesley is a work of art. Everyone always says that the second/middle child is the one to watch out for and boy are they right! The second/middle one talks faster and LOUDER, jumps higher, and eats way more that the first! The first one cares about mommy's feelings and doing the right thing, the second/middle doesn't care about doing the right thing or ANYONE'S feelings but their own. The first one likes to be clean, the second one LOVES dirt!!! I can actually deal with ALL of that EXCEPT for one thing! Wes loves to stick stuff up his nose! You don't understand how many times I've had to dig up that boys nose to retrieve, peas, raisins, rocks etc. I just don't understand it! I ask him "Why are you sticking things up your nose?"
He just looks at me and says "Because I want to!" Because you want to? WHAT? " Do you think mommy likes digging up your nose?" "Yes."................................. Insanity. But I guess I get what I deserve being the second/middle child myself!

Yeah, yeah...ok I am back: Welcome Back Kotter!!!

Greetings Pooka Family!!

It's me….Donna….the one who never writes…..the anti-blogger!! I can't believe it is May already. I kept meaning to write and time just passed me by. Do you know what I mean Pooka family?? So much happening and so little time to write. What has been happening with you Pooka family? Did anyone miss me?? I have been keeping up with all of you through my Pookalita sisters. The most difficult step is the first one. Now that I have written this I am back!! So many topics to discuss…: Almost summer and my backyard oasis is still in progress, experimenting with new recipes from your favorite Foodie(can you say lasagna in a crock pot!!,Right Denise!!), a new health & wellness regime in effect(does anyone know about high blood pressure), the ultimate anniversary trip…(almost 3 wonderful years of marriage in October!!,Right Husband!!), hmmm…...winning the Mega Million vs Working, WILL I EVER HAVE A BABY?!(now that blog might continue straight through until 2010 …not sure if I want to go there), still love Barack and Michelle and the girls and new puppy even more…(if that is humanly possible), Is it likely that anyone else despises the Geico commercial where the money has eyeballs more than me!! So many more topics but I will not share now so I can actually write about them. It is good to be back family because I realize that it is I who have missed you. Until next time no really…..I promise!

Ps-Dawn I saw your little blog prank and now I am finished writing because I am going to tell Mommy!

Blog Tricks!

Hey everybody!

I know it's been a while and we apologize. Everybody has been busy with life! Tricia and the new baby, April and the boys, Donna and marriage and work and me, well you know! I want you all to help me to get these girls steady blogging. If you've looked at the latest posts, who's missing? Hmmmm..........that's right Donna! We need to hear from her people. So I need you to help me prank Donna! Send Donna an email to info@pookapureandsimple.com and in the subject line write, "Donna, where's your blog!"
Let's see if we can fill up her inbox people!!! Ahhh the joy I get from these little things, I need to get a life, LOL!

PS - If you can't get enough of me, LOL, follow me on twitter and facebook


Facebook!
www.pookapureandsimple.com/facebook


Twitter!
www.pookapureandsimple.com/twitter

Happy Earth Day!

Hello family!
As many of you may or may not know today is Earth Day!! Yay!!!
Now, what does that mean you might ask? Earth Day is a day to appreciate our earth!
We’ve got to start taking better care of our planet so we have something to leave our little ones and we need to start enjoying the great outdoors! The best thing you can do today is GO OUTSIDE!!! Enjoy nature, if you see some trash on the street, pick it up!(okay, use some latex gloves, yuck!) I challenge you to get started enjoying our planet! Below are some tips from the Nature Conservatory:

1. EXPLORE NATURE NEAR YOU.
2. FIND KID-FRIENDLY ADVENTURES. A trip to the zoo, playground or beach is way more
exciting than video games.
3. PLAN A PERFECT DATE NIGHT. Treat your special someone to a picnic in the park, an
outdoor concert, or some simple stargazing.
4. EAT HEALTHY, LIVE GREEN. With a backyard vegetable garden, you can eat well, save
money and help the environment.
5. ENJOY NATURE FROM A NEW PERSPECTIVE. Warm weather is perfect for kayaking,
canoeing or white water rafting.
6. DON’T FORGET FIDO. Walks outside are great exercise for you and your pet.
7. START A HEALTHY COMPETITION. Trade in office happy hour for kickball, flag
football or paintball challenges.
8. DE-STRESS FROM THE DAILY GRIND. Unwind from the 9-to-5 with bird watching, hiking
or sleeping under the stars.
9. GET FIT, HAVE FUN. Shake up your gym routine and shape up with jogging, walking,
hiking or biking.

My First Day Alone with Taiye

Well as many of you know by now, my husband and I have a beautiful baby girl! She is soooo cute if I must say so myself. Being a Mom is a new experience for me. My husband brought me all the books to help me get ready i.e. "What to expect when you're expecting", "The Pregnancy Journal" and "What to expect the first year". Of course I consulted all my Mom friends (April, Tonka, Jana, Lauren) to make sure I was fully prepared, but as they have told me over again, you're never fully prepared for Motherhood! So of course, I call in for reinforcement.My great Aunt Fedelma! Aunt Fedelma is our family matriarch. She is my paternal grandmother's sister who lives in Ohio. She's 84 years old but don't think her age dictates her livelihood. She has a full schedule. Aunt Fedelma goes to line dancing classes, aerobics, monthly bridge club meetings, vacations including cruises to Alaska and Panama. Wale and I were lucky to get her here to Jersey for the first week Taiye was home and let me tell you having her here was absolutely FABULOUS! Aunt Fedelma helped me to get acclimated to being a mother. She showed me how to effectively manage my time (something which I am very good at with IBM and Pooka but takes on a different spectrum with the role of mother). For example, Aunt Fedelma showed me how to take advantage of the little time I have i.e. when Taiye sleeps, I should sleep in order to get my rest and maintain my energy. She also taught me how after a feeding, burp her and put her down. Don't let her sleep to long in your arms or else when you try to put her down she will start crying. Take advantage of short pockets of time to get things done i.e. take a shower during her morning naps. This one I struggled with because I like taking long hot showers but as Aunt Fedelma says, "you are going to have to cut down on your shower time so you can get other things done." Having Aunt Fedelma here during the first week was wonderful, but now she's gone back to her life in Cleveland and it's just me and Taiye...the anxiety has already begun! Taiye woke up screaming bloody murder the day before Aunt Fedelma left as if she knew Aunt Fedelma was leaving. What am I going to do without Aunt Fedelma? How will I manage? I never realized how important it is having someone you trust to help you with a newborn. I'm not sure how Taiye and I are going to manage, but we will find a way! So begins, my first day alone with Taiye.

And the winner is.....

Well after loads of entries submitted, we randomly picked and the winner of our Organic Easter basket is............

Seskeia Gombs from Chesapeake, VA!!!!!

Now wait a minute everybody, don't go anywhere! Seskeia has tonight until midnight to contact us, if we don't hear from here there will be another winner chosen tomoroow, so.................SESKEIA we need to hear from you, LOL! Email us at info@pookapureandsimple.com to claim your basket!

Stay tuned for more contests and prizes......... Starting, today!

If you are in the New Jersey area email us and let us know that full names of all of the Pookalitas and you can win a free ticket to the VIP game lounge! Email us at info@pookapureandsimple.com, winner will be announced on Wednesday!
Check out the VIP Game Lounge event
at www.vipgamelounge.com

Say it aint so!

Well what can I say? The economy has finally caught up with me. On friday I got laid off.....................YES LAID OFF. My boss called me into his office and asked me how I was doing, I said fine except for a little cold I have from the kids, I asked him how he was doing and he said "Not so great, I have to lay you off." HUH? What? I couldn't really hear anything he said after that. "I know your upset, I'm upset too (your upset?) Wait, wait, wait a minute................did you just lay me off? "Here is your package blah blah blah, check to see if everything is alright (Uhm................NO EVERYTHING IS NOT ALRIGHT, YOU JUST LAID ME OFF!)The economy is really bad, he says..(No kidding and now your just adding to it.) I dropped a couple of tears, asked a couple of questions(I have no idea what they were) and left his office. In a fog I called my assistant to come into my office (oh no, not MY office, the company's office) and explained things to her. She started to cry, next thing I know I'm walking out of the building, away from a job that I actually liked and was really good at(Marketing Director). The weekend was a blur,(I was trying not to think about it) because that's what they are when you have kids and Monday morning saw me back at my house trying to make sense of it all. How was I going to pay the rent, buy food, clothes, take care of my kids, myself for that matter? I prayed and the spirit came over me, this is not the end of the world, God has other plans for me and just like that job came when I needed it, the next opportunity will come so I must be ready to meet it. Prayfully it will be OUR COMPANY POOKA and I can write about how we moved into our new office space! ( I still want a window with a view!)

She's Finally Here!

Our little Pooka girl is finally here! After a long labor Tricia delivered a healthy, beautiful baby girl on Monday. For all that entered the contest she was 7lbs even, so we'll let you know who the winner is! Taiye Amanda Akinwande, now for those of you who are challenged like myself It's pronounced Tie - A. I always think of the song Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the old Oak Tree (Okay that just made me seem really old!) Tie A!!

Let me walk you through a little bit of Tie-A's birth......We got the call at midnight from hubby and he said he was taking her in. I was prepared to go to the hospital and Tricia would push and the baby would be here. Now let me explain, Tricia is our "Pit Bull" she's tough as nails, so we knew this would be no problem for her. Well........while hubby was telling us he was on his way there was some slight screaming in the back ground! What is that?" THAT'S TRICIA!!!, he screamed. Wow, I was floored, could pregnancy turn the pit bull into the puppy? We all raced to the hospital and there was our little Tricia lets just say quite uncomfortable! We rallied around her and hubby, held her hand, counted through contractions, made her breath and did anything we could do to make it easier. We were like the 3 stooges, at one point feeling nauseous she announced she might have to throw up and with as many adults in the room the best we could find was a Styrofoam cup which I proudly held under her mouth as she filled it and my hand and the bed and the floor! What did you eat! I yelled. Oh I had a Ricky Riccardo from Cuban Pete's and tuna fish and some girl scout cookies! Ladies and gentlemen these are 3 items that are now permanently removed from my food rotation. She was finally able to get some sleep and after the pain medication kicked in she even paid some Pooka bills! What dedication! So after almost 24 hours of labor little Taiye came into the world. Once Tricia was in her room she looked at April and said, WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME!!!! We all cracked up and April just smiled. Can I say and not because I'm biased as an auntie, but this is one of the cutest little girls I've seen in a long time! Now I'll have more Auntie blogs to add to the millions William and Wesley have given me!

CONGRATULATIONS TRICIA AND WALE! WE LOVE YOU!

We're Back!

Well family,
We did it! We made it to an event there and back with no drama, LOL! We had a great time and met lots of folks in North Carolina. Weather wasn't too great but we made the best of it. I even got to have the best sushi ever! Check out our pics from the event and stay tuned Tricia didn't have that baby yet!