Tacos and Tiaras

I'm just being all-zen-and-shit

Confessions

Against Rick Springfield’s Advice, I DO Talk to Strangers

Confessions, Friendship, Gratitude, Happiness, Kindness, Leadership, Music, Sacred Rebel, Warrior Woman Wednesday

stillshot from the latest TnT Tuesday Tune on TikTok, Wonder by Natalie Merchant, and yes, I intentionally make sure that “She believed she could so she did” displays in my videos

I mentioned in an older blog post that my last manager called me a collector of people because I talk to strangers. I unintentionally network! LOL It comes naturally, and I’ve been “running into people” who have become a supportive network that flows in both directions. We help each other.

Quick recap of the past month and a half:

  • I posted my first TikTok on Talk Like a Pirate Day with only single-digit followers.
  • By the end of the first week of October, I wrote about self-promotion and how YOU have to be YOUR Own Cheerleader First. Since this post, I have had daily traffic to tacosandtiaras.com! I feel happy that I opened a flow that comes in even when I haven’t published a new blog post.

When I published my previous post,, I was close to 2,000 followers on TikTok, and on Monday I passed it. That means more people to reach with humor, music, and positivity as well as to support for THEIR creations. “Follow for follow” or F4F in TikTok-speak. I feel overwhelming amounts of gratitude for the kindness and encouragement or words of “relatability” I receive, just as I am happy to like and comment on their posts. I see so much appreciation, not validation, going back and forth between creators who are technically strangers. And THAT is a beautiful thing.

And yes, I still have a TikTok blog post in the works, but for today, I have something else to say about talking to strangers. And it’s still Cybersecurity Awareness Month!!!

Aside from awareness of scams on social media, you have to be careful in general when it comes to connecting with people. Stranger danger! I know I expect everyone is a “good person” until I get the bad vibe or they do/say something that seems off. Then there are the people who seem to treat it like a dating service as if it should be TinderTok or InstaGirlfriend. To each his own… good luck to them.

Aside from the Tacos and Tiaras site, I have public accounts on social media because of the business analytics, and I use them as you might expect. As for my content, I am careful about my personal information whether it’s in writing, a picture, a video, or even in correspondence with a connection. My personal Facebook remains private although I have a few public posts, but I keep my settings pretty “locked down”.

As for my friends list, we either know each other personally or met through mutual friends…on Facebook. I find truth in the joke, “We went to Facebook together!” lmmfao You know how it is! I have ONE exception very recently. I sent a friend request to a random “People You Might Know” even though we have no mutual friends. This was one of those “felt a nudge” things because his profile reads “positive vibes only”, but this brief connection ended up yielding a reminder that Facebook is different. He accepted my request, and we communicated on messenger – no pickup lines or shit like that – I even joked that this must be my social distancing equivalent of chatting with strangers in the grocery store. On my other social media accounts, “getting to know you” with new connections is normal, but on Facebook, maybe not so much. We were mid-conversation about a Halloween post when he blocked me. LOLOLOLOLOL Again, no pickup lines, no digging for info that scammers try to obtain… sigh…

I was thinking of Forrest Gump when Forrest and his bus driver learn each other’s names so that they’re no longer strangers. Interactions on social media is often between strangers, but we connect anyway. We simply need to stay safe and smart about what we share.

More than a dozen years ago, I met my “Buffett Phamily” through the BuffettNews forums when we organized meeting up at tailgates for Jimmy Buffett’s shows. Big groups of people in a public setting proved to be safe, and I stay in touch with many of them. Through the magic of Facebook, we have connected with more friends of friends, and for me, I feel eternally grateful for the true friends I met. All from talking to strangers.

When I post social media content, the majority of my audience is “strangers”. When my content gets a smile or a laugh, I’ve done what I set out to do. If my posts help someone to think and take action whether it’s to improve their mindset, get going with a project, try something new, overcome a fear, or anything that helps them to make their life better, then I am succeeding on my path. My content is what it is – not intended to be compared or critiqued, but to improve lives by letting my light shine. And it feels pretty fucking magickal to be able to do that for a stranger. I am enough. YOU are enough.

Luceat lux vestra.

GO FOR IT! Try and Catch the Wind…Because You Just Might

Beginnings, Change, Confessions, Gratitude, Hope, Leadership, Luceat Lux Vestra, Sacred Rebel

2020 October 24 – The wind caught my hair while I was practicing ukulele on the patio, which was fine because I pretty much rolled out of bed and spent half the day outside in perfect autumn weather.

In my previous blog post, Brave: I Let the Words Fall Out, and a Portal Opened, I mentioned that I started using TikTok and at the time I had 893 followers. I will write a separate TikTok post, but for the record, I hit 1,000 followers a week ago! And at the moment, I’m 99 followers away from hitting 2,000! Yay! What this means is the potential to shine my light and reach at least that many people on one platform. Please stay tuned for the TikTok post because I will also be mentioning some of my favorite TikTok creators who inspired and supported me within my first couple of weeks of actively using my account. Without them, I would not have been able to grow as quickly and easily as I have within a month.

ANYWAY, after I followed Sara Bareilles’ request to “show me how big your brave is” everything flows more freely. Connections, ideas, inspiration. A while back, my beloved Surfpirate and I were talking about Donovan’s Catch the Wind, and I recalled how I meant to learn it for a very dear mutual friend, Connie, except that my shitty guitar skills wouldn’t cut it and at the time it didn’t occur to me to try to learn it on ukulele like I did this weekend. [Check out my ukulele rendition on YouTube, please! And please subscribe. It’s a no-cost action that helps Tacos and Tiaras grow! Thank you.]

Connie died before I even recorded an a cappella version of it. <heavy sigh> She actually was the reason I started publishing my “bleeps and blunders” recordings. They made her laugh, and if I could bring cheer to her even when she was in her final days in hospice care, maybe I had the ability to do the same for everyone else. I mean, seriously… think about it.

I have lots more to babble, but lemme get to the point, GO FOR IT! Try and catch the wind because you just might. When I let go of comparing myself to better musicians, better writers, better whatevers and took my space in sharing what I have to offer, I learned that I am enough. I thought authors and influencers were such because they shared their story about overcoming tragedy or trauma, but if my own being-all-zen-and-shit is enough for me, if shining my light through humor, music, and positivity is making a difference in my friends’ lives and they are passing it along to their friends when one of my posts or pics or videos resonates, then I can effectively share it directly beyond my little circle. And I’m doing it!!!

And I feel grateful to everyone who has led by example and everyone who continues to encourage and support me in letting my light shine so that maybe one of my creations is a reason to smile or laugh. YOU are enough, so go and shine!

Luceat lux vestra.