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  • My name is Tara Crooks and I am a mama to two amazing little girls and married to my best friend. I'm also an Army wife of thirteen-years, an author, a speaker, a columnist, and a talk radio show host. When asked, my friends would tell you I am hard-working, funny, energetic, and determined. Those that know me professionally would tell you I have an ability to inspire and empower others. To me, I'm just me - I don't know how to be anyone else - and the older I get the more I learn to appreciate finding my place on this journey.

Monthly Archives: January 2012

Valentine’s Day Care Package Ideas

I know I’m not the only one scrambling these last few weeks of January trying to find ideas for a Valentine’s Day care package that will knock my soldier’s socks off! I’ve hit the social media scene and military blogs all over. There were some great ideas, but in general most of us seem hard pressed to come up with more than a trip down the massive candy aisle at our local commissary. So I put my thinking cap on and asked around to come up with some super fabulous and creative Valentine’s Day ideas that will tell that special someone in our lives that we just can’t live without them! Red hots or their favorite candy Handwritten love poem or song Handmade Valentine Hershey’s kisses and hugs “Hot Pants” – boxer Read more…

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A New Year Under Construction

It’s the New Year and like many others I am faced with the traditional question “what is your New Year’s resolution?” Every year this question taunts me into the status quo. I find myself struggling with what resolution to set and what I will have to do to keep it. I’m a goal junkie but when it comes to New Year resolutions something just doesn’t sit right with me. I think it’s because it’s so cliché. One time a year people are encouraged to set goals? Are you kidding me? What do you do the rest of the year? Ninety-two percent of those that set them never achieve them and a whopping forty-five percent fail before the end of January? That doesn’t sound like a successful New Year. It sounds like a tradition that has already Read more…

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52 Fabulously Fun & Creative Ways to Recognize Volunteers

The Army is no stranger to the volunteer workforce. At some point in your Army “career” we can bet that you either volunteer or get volun”told” as I like to call it, to do something. But, what if you are the leader of volunteers? What can you do to make sure they feel appreciated? What can you do to recognize their contributions? Here are 52 fabulously fun and creative ways to recognize your volunteers all year long. They’re so easy to do and the rewards are two-fold. You’ll have more productive and happier volunteers just because you took the time to say “thanks”. Week 1: Give your volunteers a “Round of Applause.” Cut a piece of paper into a circle with a photo of people cheering that lists to, from, why, and the date. Read more…

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