YOU NEED THIS!!! #becauseiloveyou

I am in an amazing space.... I am in my home and have had a beautiful experience that I soooo want you to share. It’s probably not what you think but here goes.... I’ve just taken a bath, wait...WAIT! before the eye
rolling starts keep reading :-)

 I’ve been working on a campaign for Pooka called the Ultimate bath. I believe that everyone should take baths because they’re therapeutic. Now, I love a good bath but I have to admit I take way more showers because they’re just quicker and easier. So although I was creating the “Ultimate Bath” campaign, I have to admit I haven’t taken the time to take one recently. So this evening I decided to take one and OH MY GOODNESS!

 Firstly, you pay upwards of $70 for a spa treatment and how many of us actually do that. I want to tell you you have a spa right in your house. Stop all of the negative thinking like, “I don’t lilke baths” or “ I don’t like my tub” or ”I just don’t have time”. 
YOU NEED A BATH. Baths can lower your blood pressure and can help reduce stress, thats reason enough. You have to start thinking of your bath as a treatment, yes a treatment! Something that you do every week to better your health. I now look at Sunday evenings as my health treatment day. With all of the ads on the market for medications and therapies, how amazing is it to know that you have one right in your house. So now that you realize this is a wonderful way to change your health, just like drinking water every day, I’m going to tell you how to make it the thing that you look forward to doing every week.

 I ran a hot bath and since I’m always experimenting I added a new natural bubble bar I’m working on. Lots of nice bubbles so now the tub looked kind of nice. Then I drizzled in some bath oil and dropped in a bath fizzie (are you getting this visual! Bubbles, beautiful fizzing going on?!) After that I lit a beautiful coconut candle. Now, this place is looking like a real spa! I think the best part was I turned on pandora on my phone and instead of my usual Jill Scott or Adele, I tuned into Spa radio and just had beautiful painos playing through my bath room. Then I grabbed a magazine and stepped into the tub, AMAZING! How could I have forgotten how this feels! I never even read the book, I just closed my eyes and thought about how blessed I am. I thanked GOD for all that I’ve been allowed to experience, I thought of my wonderful family and friends, I thought of how much I was enjoying this moment.......After about 30 minutes I decided to add to the skin treatment part and rub myself down with a new himalyan sea salt scrub bar that I’ve been playing with(look people there is always going to Pooka in every blog!) I started to massage my skin with the bar and I was glowing. I relaxed a little more and got out of the tub. After I toweled dry I felt amazing and I was going to throw on a T-shirt BUT not after that experience, I grabbed a beautiful nightgown that I usually would save for vacations, but why wait, everyday I’m alive should be a vacation. I was so relaxed and grateful after my bath that I sat down to write this. I had all kind of thoughts in my head about how I was going to buy a truck and go to peoples houses and prepare baths for them, lol! That’s how much I want everyone to have this experience. The thing is almost everyone has a bath tub so no matter where you are in life you can feel this way and you owe it to yourself and your health!

 So below is what came from my bath:
 I was totally relaxed, I’m sure my blood pressure was lowered
 I was so grateful and humbled and in the moment
 I was able to just focus on me, in a busy day when do we do that
 I gave my skin an amazing treatment, shaving years of aging off :-)
 I was inspired enough to write this blog
 I was HAPPY

 TAKE A BATH TODAY!!!!!

Where are my Garanimals!!!

Well Pooka family, lately I’ve been doing a lot of speaking engagements.  I’ve been packing and unpacking and constantly trying to figure out what to wear.  I am not a big shopper, it’s really not one of my favorite things to do.  So, constantly trying to decide what to wear made me think that I miss Garanimals!  Do you remember them?  They were made for kids so that they could match any giraffe top with any giraffe pants!  This was an AMAZING discovery.  I have decided that at this age I need Business Giranimals! I could go in my closet and grab a ostrich top and pair it with an ostrich bottom and Voila! dressed for my meetings and ready to go!  If you’re down with business garanimals, let me know we can start a new business together, LOL!

Liar, Liar Pooka on fire!!

Well family of course you know, I have a story!! Now I’m sure April is going to KILL me but this story needs to be told, lol!!  I like to call this 5 minutes and 3 days of Will and Wes!  Last week April and the boys came home from NC to visit.  We were all excited to see them and couldn’t wait for a Pookalita fun week!  I was at Pooka and April told me she’d arrived at her moms the night before, so she and the boys were coming by Pooka to see us!  This is how the weekend went minute by minute, lol.....

Minute 1 - In they marched and we all hugged and talked about how tall the boys were and just had a good time seeing each other. 

Minute 2-3 - Will, “Auntie Dawn, I’m hungry, do you have any food here?”

Me, “I don’t think so Will”.   But you know how kids are, he found a bag of microwave popcorn buried behind the microwave and asked if he could have it.  Sure, I said and he popped it in.  Now the microwave is in the spare room, next to the office, so he put it in and shut the door to the room.

Minute 5 or 10?  What’s that smell?  As I open the door and watch the smoke pour out of the room, suddenly the blaring fire alarms go off in the entire building!  Pooka is a commercial space so there were lights and alarms all over and I didn’t realize it set off the entire building including the 2 tenants upstairs!  At this point we’re all running around like crazy people, screaming trying to figure out how to shut it off.  So that’s then I called the fire department and let them know that it wasn’t an emergency, just needed to know how to shut off the alarm......

Minute 12.....Woooooooooo, wooooooooo(my fire engine sounds)  Now I told the fire operator that it wasn’t an emergency but guess what showed up at Pooka?  The fire chief and 2 huge, shiny, blaring fire engines!  As they entered, we told them that it was just burnt popcorn, but they went through place with a fine tooth comb. Unfortunately the main fire panel was in the landlords basement, which I didn’t have a key for so...you guessed it the firemen had to get equipment and bust in the door!!!  So now that they are at the panel, they can’t turn the alarm off and put it on silence.  They told me to call the alarm company and have them send someone over to fix the alarm, unfortunately its 4 oclock on easter weekend!  They also said that we couldnt leave the alarm on silent that we had to get it fixed or it would go off again.  Before they left the told me to try to reset the alarm again before I left for the night.  

Minute 40  Well now April and the boys are hungry and go for pizza!  really?!

6:00pm  Before going home, I tried to reset the alarm, of course it didn’t work, so I shut it right off again and called the fire department to let them know that it didn’t work.  The operator said, okay ma’m we’ll send units over!  No!  I screamed, you told me to call If I couldn’t reset it and I’m telling you it didn’t work no need to send out units.  “Ma’m by law we have to come!!”

I have no idea what Minute ....Wooooooooooooo Wooooooooo(my fire engine sounds again)  Guess who arrived at Pooka again!  Yup 2 more fire trucks, at this point I’m totally frustrated and embaressed.  I can’t believe they sent more firemen, who came in and even after we told them the story asked to see the microwave again!  THERE IS NO FIRE!  So after they left I just went home.

Day 2:  Saturday at the Pooka boutique was great but at around 5:00 guess what happened, that darn alarm went off again!  I quickly put it on silence again and held my breath,  thank GOD no firemen.  So now, I’m totally stressed because If this thing goes off again the tenants upstairs are going to kill me.  Thank God it didn’t go off again.

Day 3:  Happy Easter!!  Enjoying a wonderful family easter dinner.  Our cleaning service was at Pooka cleaning the place when in the middle of my smoked salmon, I get a panicked phone call, “DAWN THE ALARM IS GOING OFF”  So Easter dinner is cut short, out the door I go to Pooka!  By the time I get there the cleaner is standing there pressing the reset button, every 5 minutes so the alarm doesn’t come on again.  I put it on silence and went home.

Day 4 MONDAY.  My landlord is back and fixes the alarm!!!  Wow, I can’t wait til those kids visit again!   >:(

Dawn on Ebru Today Show!

Reap what you Sow!

Well Pooka family, it’s definitely a time of reflection as we ready ourselves to close out 2012.   When I found out about the @blackenterprise cover early in the year I began claiming all year long that I was In my “season”.  I used my positive affirmations and stated every day that, “This is my season!” and I truly believe it was and still is.  I’ve always heard people say you reap what you sow.  I’ve always looked at the negative, meaning that If you do bad, you get bad.  But this year I thought of it from the positive side. 2 Corinthians 9:6 says, “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” 
After 12 years in business I’ve realized that we have been sowing seeds all through our journey.  By connecting with great people, exploring new opportunities, considering different viewpoints, acquiring knowledge, growing, changing, sharing and in many other ways, we’ve been sowing seeds of growth for Pooka.  Along the way we’ve also had many roadblocks, set backs and opportunities that didn’t produce what we hoped.  BUT I see now that we are reaping a lot of the rewards from things that we thought were deadends or failed opportunities.  I say all of this to say, SOW YOUR BUSINESS SEEDS.  Make connections and don’t worry If you feel nothing comes out of it, In due time you’ll reap benefits. Gather knowledge, even though you don’t see how it might be helpful now, in due season you’ll reap benefits.  Talk to people, listen, share and do what you can to help others and in due season you’ll reap the benefits. Do the hard work now and don’t give up and I believe in due season, YOUR season, you will see all the amazing results of the seeds you’ve sown!  I am going to stay inspired and positive, be faithful and keep sowing, 2013 is going to outdo 2012, my season continues!

Changes I CAN SEE!!!

Well Pooka family, this marks an historical month for me! This month for the first time in 10 years, I officially have HEALTH CARE! I am overjoyed. For the last 10 years, since I’ve been an entrepreneur and left corporate america, I’ve been uninsured and by the Grace of GOD, I haven’t had to have a surgery. Being an entrepreneur obtaining health Insurance is expensive and hard and for me, since I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 7 years ago, I have the double wammy. Even If I could afford health care, no companies would give me insurance because of my Pre-Existing condition. I have been paying close attention to the Health Care debates going on in Washington and I am so PROUD and GRATEFUL to my president for fighting to get me coverage! Yes I say “Me” because this is personal. Sometimes we don’t see how policies in Washington directly impact us. In this case, I have directly benefited from this groundbreaking healthcare decision, the Pre-existing condition plan and I am so glad that our President fought for it. This will change a lot for our country, with this healthcare bill, If you have a pre-existing condition you can get health care and If you have children they can now stay on your policy until they are 27, that is HUGE and will offer so many more americans the opportunity to have health care, which I feel is a RIGHT not a PRIVILEGE!! THANK YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA, Dawn Fitch is officially covered!! 
ps tomorrow I’m going to the podiatrist, gynecologist, optometrist, neurologist even a meteorologist(i know to know if my internal weather system is working!) and any other “gist” thats in my insurance handbook, LOL!!!

My Raggedy Ann Lesson!!

Well folks you know I always have a “story”. So this weekend I went to visit my cousin and spend some time with the family. As always we had a great time friday and saturday and then came.....what we now call the “Raggedy Ann” Incident!! I got up on Sunday and was preparing for my cousins BBQ and while curling my hair, my hand slipped and my curling iron dropped ON MY FACE!! I was mortified and in pain! It happened so quick and it barely touched my cheek. I quickly applied some lavender essential oil so that it wouldnt blister. I couldn’t believe I had done that and as the day went by it got darker and darker, when I woke up the next morning I walked past a mirror and just screamed! I had a complete round circle scar on my cheek, now I’m not talking about a little dot, I’m talking about a quarter sized, dark mark! I just didn’t know what to do, I didn’t want to go outside but I had so much to do. I tried putting on make up but the mark just sucked it up! I went to Pooka and they tried to make me feel better by telling me that it like “cute” like raggedy ann!! They even suggested I mark the other cheek to match! I was so annoyed all day and so self concious but then I started thinking about people with real scars or who have been disfigured and what they go through every day or those who have been really burned and the pain that they had to suffer, instantly I became very aware of how blessed I am. Sometimes it takes something small to appreciate all that we take for granted, so as I wait for my Raggedy Ann cheek to heal I will not complain, I’ll just grin and bear it! Lesson Learned!



Oh the Possibilities!

Hi Pooka Family and Happy 2012!! We are blessed and excited to start this new year!

I’m always excited every January because its a brand New Year and its filled with lots of wonderful possibilities! Make sure you start your year off in a positive way. Below are some of the things that I’m going to do!

I’ve decided to make no New Years resolutions, but instead to just make some positive goals. I found my list of Pooka goals that I made last year and when I looked at my written goals and looked at our Vision Board at the office one thing was on both a flagship location! 2011 was a big year for Pooka since we did open our first retail location! This just solidified my decision to make new 2012 goals.

Positive Affirmations!
I am big about writing things down and reading over them. Words matter and the words that you speak and your thoughts manifest in your life. Be careful of what you say and think, start your day looking in the mirror and say something wonderful about you and the day that you are getting ready to enjoy! This is a great book about healing by using positive affirmations called “You can heal your life”, by Louise L. Hay

Fasting

This is the 2nd year that the Pookalitas and I do a Daniel Fast. Its a wonderful spiritual fast, which we find strengthens our faith and gives us vision and direction for our year. Now fasting is not easy, there are many days when my only email to the girls is, “I’m HUNGRY” LOL! But then I munch on some carrots and keep it movin. Its something that we do together and that strengthens our friendships! Here is the outline of the Daniel Fast.

Whatever you do, fasting, setting goals, making resolutions just make sure to take advantage of this blessed New Year and DO something. Take time to be excited about all of the possibilites that this year could hold for you. Choose one and get started!

Come on Martha!!!

Well Pooka family, being a member of the Indie Beauty Network, a group of us were given complimentary tickets to the Martha Stewart Show! I was so excited when I heard we were going and counted the days! Now you have to understand my excitement, many of you know that I may not be the most....domestic gal (my momma tried but it just didn’t stick) So why would I be so excited about going to the show you ask? GIFTS!!! Come on people its December and we’re going on the Martha Stewart show! I had been watching so many shows and the Holiday give-aways had been fantastic. I had a dual purpose the morning of the show, I had to figure out how I could pay attention to the gifts being given away but also learn NOTHING, thats right people, I didn’t want to mess up my non-domestic record and learning to make a cake or pie might just spoil that, LOL! If I increased my domestic knowledge people would start asking me to cook something besides body butter and I have no time for that! As I marched into the studio audience I was armed with my Christmas List because I had gifts to get and then give away! I had no idea what kind of amazing goodies we would get, would we get ipods? ipads? or maybe even........a CAR!! Now my christmas list wasn’t for items I wanted it was for people I needed to get gifts for! All of my items from Martha were going right to the folks on my list, saving me time and money! The studio was beautiful, lights, cameras and staff buzzing around everywhere! We were taken to our seats and awaited Martha’s arrival! After about 15 minutes finally she arrived and the show began.

The first thing she did was make a cake, I shielded my eyes so that I wouldn’t learn about baking and finally the segment was over. I waited anxiously for them to pass around the cake that she made and....THEY NEVER DID!! Are you kidding me! We don’t get to eat the cake!! I decided to calm down because we were moving to the next segment, I thought about my list and was excited to see what they would be getting. The next segment, Martha had a crafty woman making leather bracelets, she explained how it was done, by punching holes into the leather and then you string the beads. At that moment Martha exclaimed, “Everyone in the audience will be getting my craft leather hole puncher!” WHAT???!!! A leather hole puncher, I quickly, mentally scanned my list, who the heck could I give that to? Alright, I decided not to panic, I knew there were more segments to come and I’d get the latest technology gadget to give someone! So now Martha moves to the next segment where she starts making planters and garden items out of cement, now I was getting worried but I was still being positive and thats when Martha says, “Everyone in the audience will be getting this book on how to make garden gifts out of cement!” WHAT!!!!!!! A cement makin book, really Martha!! So now we move on to the last segment and I’m sweating bullets now, I need to finish my Christmas shopping. Martha starts looking at a bunch of pretty picture frames and announces that we will all be getting gift certificates to an online photo website, where we can upload our pics and print them out. I was floored! No ipod, no computer and definitely NO CAR! NO MARTHA NO!!! Finally Martha ended the show by making Chicken Liver Mousse and something about the whirling of the stupid food processor caught my eye and I was in a trance and couldn’t turn away. So on top of getting no good gifts I now know how to make Chicken Liver Mousse!!!! The devastation!!!!

All in all it was a good time and getting to meet other members of the Indie beauty network was the best! Unfortunately Donna will be getting a leather hole puncher and my mom is getting a cement garden book and I will be making Chicken Liver Mousse sandwiches for my dad and brother, all together now....THANKS MARTHA!

What not to wear!

I love this show!! If you haven’t seen it, it’s on TLC and they take a woman and go through her closet and basically, throw away all of her non-fitting, outdated, just plain should not be wearing clothes! This weekend I decided to do my own version of the show. I went into my closet and looked at each piece I had, well let me tell you, I’m glad the cameras weren’t on, I found, deep in the bottom of my drawer.........one...LEGWARMER!! Really Dawn! The things that I pulled out of my closet were shameful! I even had a shirt from college, smashed into a corner and college was at least...5 years ago? WHATEVER?! Well I encourage you to do this, you may feel like you have a lot of clothes but when you take out the silly things you haven’t worn in years, you”ll be down to 4 things like me! I have to say I feel so much less cluttered and i was able to make a large donation to salvation army. It is so easy when I get dressed now, even though its a lot less to choose from I know exactly what to wear. The sock drawer was not let off the hook either, all of those without a partner were put out! So people cleanse not only your body but your closet too!

I share..because....I love you!

Well people this blog is VERY personal to me!! I am only sharing an embarassing moment because I love my Pooka family and know they won’t judge me! and I have to share some lessons to maybe help someone else.....

So............here goes............

As you all know we have opened our new Pooka Boutique! It’s been a tough time trying to get everything up and running! Since we’ve opened in Sept we had no phones due to the Verizon strike and backlog of service. We finally got our phones up and running but it was at no small sacrifice! I was on the phone with verizon for days, trying to get the techs out, then dealing with them sending the wrong tech and a such! Finally after much frustration I called and spoke to a woman who said she would resolve the problem. I stayed on the phone with this woman for 45 minutes and when she finally got some answers she said that I’d have to wait to speak to someone in another department, so.......I waited another 30 minutes!! I had now been on the phone with verizon for over an hour. Finally she came back and said that I needed to wait more, I told her to just transfer me over the the department where I could CANCEL the service and while transferring me, she disconnected me!! I was enraged so I called back and told my story to another woman, who was shocked at the wait and promised she’d take care of it! So since I was on my cell phone, I waited at pooka on the phone with her for another 30 minutes, then I decided to just drive home, so still on the phone with her I went to the grocery store and picked up dinner and drove home, now I’ve been on the phone over an hour and a half. Finally when I get home and still on the phone with her, she lets me know that the department that I need is still not answering her! Its has now been almost 2 hours on the phone! I ask her to call me back when she’s reached someone but she says that they are not authorized to make outgoing calls! Okay so now that i’ve been on the phone for over 2 hours there is no way i’m hanging up without fixing this problem. I have to admit the woman on the phone was as disgusted as I was and very nice. So finally she says, “Ms fitch, I just spoke to the department that will make the appt. for a tech to come out they said it would be another half hour wait to make the appointment!!!” she says, “But, just put the phone down and I’ll hang on with you. Do what you need to do and I’ll scream out when they are ready”. I was impressed, that was nice of her, so I put the phone down and put it on speaker phone and start making my dinner. Now, hold on people, this is where I need your...understanding! Let me give you some background info, It had been a LONG day, I was tired, I had black bean soup for lunch. Another 30 minutes passed and I totally forgot that she was on speaker phone in my kitchen, so as I’m preparing my dinner and in the privacy of my own home.......................lets just say, I, “released” some wind and not from my mouth!! Yup, the most embarrasing moment ever! As I pooted the soft breeze (that makes it sound so much prettier) I realized I was on speaker phone, I froze and in the quiet of my kitchen I heard a tiny giggle come from my cell phone!! I WAS MORTIFIED!!! I couldn’t even say anything, I just ran into the other room and hid!! DAMN YOU VERIZON!!! When I gathered myself and went back into the kitchen thats when i noticed the MUTE button on my phone!(learn all of the features of your phone people) At that point it had been 3 and a half hours on the phone and she announced that she had made the appointment and then she hung up, never mentioning my wind escapage! Here are the lessons I learned:

Choose AT&T, Cable or 2 tin cans with a string tied between them for phone/internet!

Don’t eat Beans for lunch and then put yourself on speaker phone!

Learn where your mute button is!

What a Day!

Hey Pooka Family!

Well last week we celebrated the Grand Opening of our new Pooka Body Boutique! It was such a blessed, amazing, successful, proud day in Pookaville! At noon we had an official ribbon cutting with the Mayor of Orange and we all gave our little speeches and then snipped that ribbon and we were open! I could'nt believe how many people flowed through our doors that day. It was a steady flow all day long! It was a great celebration, we had food and drinks, an R&B singer, we had a photowall and a fabulous Pooka Cake created for us! I have to say, If I never have a wedding, this will be a good stand in, LOL!! Enjoy the photos!

Click to see all GRAND OPENING PICTURES

Respect my mode!

This is more of a rant instead of a blog, sorry! But I gotta get it out, people...you have to respect peoples modes of communication! Let me break this down, I am a texter. Mostly beacause I’m really busy and sometimes I’m cooking pooka at the warehouse, its easier to text a quick short answer than to have a full conversation. As an entrepreneur I have to be careful about my time, because I work for myself, friends and family call to chat all day long. So I usually send a quick text and time when I’ll be able to chat. So when people call me and the phone just rings or I don’t answer they get very upset, but I say, “text me”. Folks don’t seem to like that so they call anyway only to get my voice mail. Now on the other hand I have friends that don’t text so I know If I want to talk to them I have to call them because they don’t text. I have other friends who prefer email so when its time to chat with them I know to email them. I respect their mode of communication. So all I’m saying is if you want to get in touch with someone you have to respect their mode of communication. My favorite are my friends who text me and say....”call me!” I can’t win, LOL! But I have to say that I’m glad that I have this problem because it means I have great friends and family in my life! (you know I had to clean that one up or I would be gettin some angry texts today, LOL!)

Attack of the Protein People!!

Hey Pooka family, this actually tickled me! Our office manager brings her daughter to work with her sometimes in the summer. So we’re all pretty chummy, having a good time laughing at Pooka. The other day her daughter came into Pooka not so happy, so I asked what was wrong. Apparently she had to go to a birthday party for a cousin of hers but she didn’t want to go because they were “Protein People”, I was shocked!! "What are protein people?", I asked. So she says, “You know they eat raisins and salads and stuff, nothing fun...like you Miss Dawn!” Wow, I was shocked to find out that I am one of the “Protein People!” I felt like a scary zombie that chased kids around and threw boxes of raisins at them, LOL! Although it was funny, I realized we have to make sure our children know that we want to be “protein people”. Our children need a well balanced diet to get them through school and all of the wonderful endeavors ahead of them! So pooka people get your kids on the road to becoming Protein People!!

My Summer Pledge!!

Well Pooka family I am soooo sick of this cold weather! When I was younger I was a winter baby, loved my boots and sweaters but as I get (slightly, LOL) older, the idea of going to Florida for the summer never leaves my mind! I am to the point if I see one more flake of snow or go outside to be greeted by 20 degree weather I might lose it! Now I have to admit I am usually just an all around weather complainer, even in the summer crying about how I’m melting and how “I can’t take this heat!”. But on this cold March night I pledge to not complain once this summer arrives, no matter how hot it gets! Below is my summer pledge:

I pledge to not complain about the heat even if my Pooka deodorant stops working and I become offensive to others.

I pledge to not complain about the heat even if a family of flies invades my apartment!

I pledge to not complain about the heat even if we are forced out of the pool because a child pees in it!

I pledge to not complain about the heat even if there is a heatwave and all of the Pooka butters melt!

I pledge to not complain about the heat even though my passenger side window is broken and gas will be too high to put the air on!

I pledge to not complain about the heat when its hot in the nail salon but I have to wait over an hour for a pedicure because my toes look like the Bernstein Bears!

I WON”T COMPLAIN! So bring it on summer, I promise I will BEHAVE!

Out of the mouths of babes....

I was speaking last week at Glenfield Middle School for career day! I always enjoy talking to the kids and sharing my story and stories of other entrepreneurs. Usually during my presentation I ask the kids, if they know what an entrepreneur is? I always get various answers and sometimes some of them come close enough and I fill them in on the rest. While speaking at the school I told them the great parts of owning my own business, then I asked them what they thought would be the down side? One little boy raised his hand and said, “When you’re an entrepreneur you are poor and never know if you will get any money, so it’s sad.” Wow!!! I was shocked and all I could do is wonder how this child got access to my bank account, LOL!!!! All in all it was a great day and come next year I’ll do it again, Pooka loves the children!!!!

Slayin Dragons!!

This week I am energized! I’ve just returned from a fabulous business cruise with other Handmade Beauty business owners. What a wealth of knowledge, sharing and yes fun! During the Indie Business cruise a friend/business owner said something to me that really stuck. I told her about being overwhelmed and just not feeling like I could get everything done and she said to me! “You gotta line up your dragons, get out your slingshot and start knocking those dragons down!” This has so stuck with me! There is something about visualizing myself in my armor and just taking down dragons one slingshot at a time. Instead of looking at the overall picture and everything I needed to do, I made a list of things I needed to do just for the day, not the week or month or even year, but the day! I started attacking my list one thing at a time, no procrastinating just slinging! By the end of the day I had crossed off everything on my list and I was amazed! I felt such a sense of accomplishment. So now everyday, I set up my daily dragon list and one by one I TAKE THEM DOWN! Sometimes all that we have to do in any area of our life can seem so overwhelming that it almost makes us do nothing. But make your lists people, just a few things and when you’ve done those things add a few more, then at the end of the week look at all the lists and see everything that you’ve accomplished! You will be so proud of yourself! So I am now officially Dawn Fitch...Dragon Slayer!

What are your dragons?

Wealthy vs Rich

Hey Pooka Family!!
This saturday I had the opportunity to speak on a panel for the Omega Psi Phi Black Wealth Initiative! It was a great event! The keynote speaker was John Simons the senior personal finance editor at Black Enterprise magazine. He really made us stop and think about whether we’d like to be rich or wealthy? Rich, you have a lot of money but wealthy is money, power and equity! We as a people have to focus on becoming financially saavy and wealthy check out the Black Enterprise tools to do just that!

The Omega Black Wealth Initiative had 2 main parts, managing your finances and becoming entrepreneurs. This is where I came in, I really enjoyed speaking on the panel and answering any questions that I could. All in all it was a great day and I learned a lot! Pooka family this year lets focus on building wealth and not just getting rich or just getting by! Check out Black Enterprises 10 POWER MOVES TO HELP YOU BETTER MANAGE YOUR MONEY

I’m ready! are you?

The most important oil of all.....

Pooka family today I would like to discuss the most important oil of all! i’m always trying to tell you about oil benefits and which ones are best for you, well let me tell you the WINNER! MOTOR OIL!! Yes this is yet another blog about the life and times of my car, LOL! Let me rewind, I said this year no resolutions but after reading tricias’ blog 2011 A New Year I decided, this year my big goal will be to work on my procrastination, I mean really work on it! Now fast forward to my truck, which by the way is overdue for an oil change by 2000 miles! yup, 2000!(don’t tell my dad) So every morning i get into my car and I'm in a hurray as usual, i look at the sticker reminding me that i’m overdue and i say to myself “Dawn, this week oil change!” and then I drive off. Well yesterday morning I started the car and let her warm up, said my oil change speel and peeled off. As i’m driving I look in my rear view mirror and I realize I’ve got to get my car washed cause my window is foggy! But as I drove more I realized the fog was coming out of my exhaust. So what did I do? Drive faster of course, maybe I could burn it out with speed. At the next light while looking in the rearview mirror a driver on the opposite side beeped at me to let me know that smoke was now coming out of my hood! Now i’m in trouble, I didn’t want to stop because I was close to a gas station so again, I put the petal to the metal! Now as i’m rounding the corner I look over at my glove compartment and what do i see, SMOKE! coming out the the glove compartment and I hear sizzling like bacon in a hot frying pan(turkey bacon of course)! Now I’m really panicking, is the car on fire? is it gonna blow up? I finally made it to the gas station and lifted the hood, it looked like an oil explosion under there. The mechanic pulled it into the garage and they let me know that I had a massive oil leak and I wound up paying $450 to fix the leak and clean the engine! Now, If i had gotten my oil change when I was supposed to they may have found the leak and it probably would have cost me about $40 and I wouldn’t have been traumatized driving a burning truck through my city! I also could have pulled over if i had remembered to renew my AAA. Lesson Learned!!! So now when I get into my truck I don’t have to say “Dawn this week oil change” instead I look at the Jan 2011 registration sticker in my window and say “Dawn gotta get an inspection!” I’m a WORK IN PROGRESS PEOPLE!!!!

The More things change....Happy New Year!

Hello Pooka Family!! As I sat down to write my new years words of wisdom I realized that they are pretty much the same as last year! Not in a bad way, but I read the blog I wrote last year and it really still applies so here it is for your viewing pleasure again, LOL!!! (ps I changed the dates to make it current for you!)

"Well this New Year's Eve I did a lot of thinking. I listened to a lot of people who were overjoyed to get rid of 2010 and I started thinking why is it that at the end of every year we can't wait to get rid of that year because it was horrible, but this was the same year we welcomed with excitement last January! Lets be thankful for every year we are allowed to see. Thanks 2010 for the good the bad and for just being here to experience it all. Now that being said or thought I wondered if I should even make resolutions? hmmmm....Let me think about resolutions past and see how some those turned out.....
1. I still don't look like Halle Barry
2. I didn't do the stairmaster every day, so.....my butt still doesn't look like Jennifer Lopez'(remember that blog?!)
3. Will Smith still hasn't called me if you remember my past blog, neither has Danny Glover or Morgan Freeman!
4. I still can't make collard greens and continue to eat free stuff at Whole Foods, just not with the kids, remember how that went....
5. I tried to live by my budget but you all read my ipod blog!
6. I haven't found Barack Obamas brother and married him to make myself Michelle Obama(oh you missed that one!?here it is!)
7. I haven't cleaned up yet.....(yeah there was one for that too!)
8. Hmmm...my hair, well I'm leaving that one alone and you should too, LOL!

The list goes on and on, LOL! So this year no resolutions for me, I'm just going to be the best I can be and when 2011 ends I'll be happy for a great year!