Tacos and Tiaras

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

Divine Orchestration

Happy First Birthday, Tacos and Tiaras!

Beginnings, Change, Confessions, Divine Orchestration, Gratitude, Happiness, In Media Res, Intuition, Kindness, Leadership, Love, Reflection, Simple Pleasures, Simplifying My Life

“And you wonder where I’ll be in a year
I’ll probably be sitting right here
And if you know the answer, don’t tell me, anyone
‘Cause I don’t wanna know
I don’t wanna know”

“Don’t Wanna Know” by The Refreshments
Songwriters: Arthur “buddy” Edwards / Brian Blush / Brian David Blush / Paul H. Naffah / Roger Clyne / Roger Meade Clyne

It’s been a year, and the short of what I want to say is I feel happy that I can’t see the future because I would have missed out on LIVING my life to get to today… to stop chasing and begin allowing… to let Tacos and Tiaras become and keep growing into its role in my life. I am still learning to trust my intuition straight outta the gate so that things happen sooner/faster, but I got over fears, broke habits, broke free from pattern behavior, released things, released people… anything and anyone not aligned with me, my calling, my path, my best self. I feel grateful. I feel happy. And even on days when I feel not-so-happy, I am still at peace… all-zen-and-shit.

“And then it happens… One day you wake up and you’re in this place. You’re in this place where everything feels right. Your heart is calm. Your soul is lit. Your thoughts are positive. Your vision is clear. You’re at peace, at peace with where you’ve been, at peace with what you’ve been through, and at peace with where you’re headed.”

– uncredited

A year ago yesterday, I wrote my first blog post on tacosandtiaras.com. In Media Res.

In media res… “in the midst of a plot”… but when your life IS your story, isn’t it always in media res?

I had a goal and a plan (because it was time to stop wishing), but when has life ever gone perfectly according to human-constructed plan? I thought I knew what I was supposed to be doing, and dammit if I didn’t just read In Media Res and think, “You’re so fucking slow… you wrote it RIGHT THERE!”

“Go with the flow, abandon expectations, allow what is to be… There! That’s your first lesson in being-all-zen-and-shit! LOL”

In Media Res, my first post on tacosandtiaras.com

A year ago today, I officially launched this blog, ten days after my last day in corporate America. I reflected on the year in, One Year Ago: Same But Different. What more can I say? (OMG Now I hear Avril Lavigne Sk8er Boi)

Honestly, if it wasn’t for Facebook memories, I would have forgotten I launched Tacos and Tiaras on this day last year. It’s just something I don’t think about because after a year, some days it feels like it’s always been here.

But it does feel important to me to remember getting started… because last year, I didn’t feel like I was enough. And I know so many people can relate to fear and low vibration, negative feelings of inadequacy… like we don’t know enough or haven’t accomplished enough or aren’t special enough for anyone to care to listen… but we are enough.

I am enough. YOU are enough.

I’ve learned to focus on and be grateful for who I am and everything I have. I appreciate everyone – family, friend, acquaintance, stranger – who has let me know that they appreciate what I do. The most lovely part about it is I’ve learned that when I am just being me, everything falls into place.

As part of Tacos and Tiaras, I created a social media presence on Instagram (check out related pics for this post!), Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. Note: Those three links go to the Tacos and Tiaras profiles on the respective platforms. Oh yes, I will be venturing to other platforms this year. 😉 LOL Almost forgot about YouTube… I still have to upload videos that I dropped on Facebook last week.

I’m just starting to use the Tacos and Tiaras Facebook page for more than a place to link to the blog, but the Tacos and Tiaras Tribe… … having a private group was not in my original vision, but everyday the group is full of laughter and light. I keep it a private group so that we can enforce rules in which KINDNESS is the cardinal rule. And it works.

And I love that we have so many members posting, so that even on the days when I’m less available to fuck around on social media, someone is always keeping the laughs going and the light on for others. And when members repost on their own timelines after seeing something on the TnT Tribe, I feel content. I see a living example of how light spreads. I’ve said it before within the group, when I set up the TnT Tribe, I had no idea how much I would rely on the humor (where I purposely exclude politics because we all need a fucking break), and with 2020 being what it is because of the ‘rona and election year, members KNOW they can come to the group and breathe… because laughing is breathing.

From 2013-2017 I wrote nightly posts on Facebook so I could end each day with gratitude, and it absolutely changed my mindset, especially during times of tragedy. And sometimes, the best thing I could say was what ended up becoming a nightly mantra: “Needs are met. Wants are few. I could not ask for more.”

Facebook memories showed me that three years ago, I shared this:

“I know that you feel like you don’t have everything you want right now, Bailey; but believe me, you have everything that you need. You’re gonna be okay.”

– Sarah Reeves, Party of Five

I used to limit my nightly gratitude messages to Facebook posts, but when I realized I could reach a wider audience, I stopped at the end of 2017, but all of 2018 went by without a blog. And 2018 ended with my mom’s funeral on the day of New Year’s Eve.

Life is too short to hide, to be afraid for our authentic selves to be seen and heard. The posts where I tell MY story have seemed to resonate most with blog readers. We feel less lonely when we can relate and heal together.

I understand this so much better a year later.

I know I still have doubters who don’t believe in my ability to “make a living” by nontraditional means, but at least now they’re no longer part of my inner circle… And ain’t nothin’ a better spark than one lights the fire with, “Just watch me”…

Luceat lux vestra

Luke Combs and a Full Moon

Change, Divine Orchestration, Gratitude, Happiness, Luceat Lux Vestra, Mindfulness, Simplifying My Life

So, this morning I was out driving and the first song to come on the radio was Luke Combs’ When It Rains It Pours. It’s a fun song – his girl got sick of his shit and left him, but as he sings it, “What I thought was going to be the death of me was my saving grace / It got me thinking that her leavin’ / Is the only logical reason…” and he continues to list more good fortune that happened since she left.

Maybe it’s because of my focus on the full moon (Corn Moon) that I finally heard this song as an example of letting go of what (or who) no longer serves us in order to make space for what we do need and want (Laws of Abundance and Attraction). I wrote a little about this yesterday in One Year Ago: Same But Different. I’ve been releasing whatever has been taking up space in my life, especially anything that doesn’t “spark” joy as Marie Kondo puts in when deciding on what to purge in order to keep a tidy and minimalist home.

Decluttering offers so many benefits, and it isn’t limited to objects although physically decluttering is important for generating positive feelings. I used to have a lot of negative feeling/energy because of all the things taking up space that I had yet to go through and get rid of because I didn’t need it. It was a shitty cycle of waking up and seeing “stuff”, having to go to work, knowing that I would come home to the same stuff and not want to deal with it because I would rather do something fun to unwind. Being at home during stay-at-home orders afforded me the opportunity to focus and tackle the purge.

Recently I connected with Jaclyn Nicole Johnston, author of Don’t Feel Stuck! and the first step for manifesting is to DECLUTTER! For me, the first space that I took care of was small and not a lot of effort, but the important part is that once I finished, I was immediately in a higher vibration. Looking at a tidy space instead of a chaotic one looked and felt better. The flow of energy improved as did my outlook and motivation to keep going. Now I have auctions up on eBay and still have more items to list! And aside from opening a flow of income by reselling the things that no longer serve me, I have a better flow of everything else too. And as usual, the timing lines up without me planning on it. Coincidences do not exist.

“What I thought was going to be the death of me was my saving grace” (Luke Combs, When It Rains It Pours) Hello! Example of everything happens FOR us, not to us. I know I’ve been there and others can relate to having experiences or situations where letting go of someone or something not our choice or decision, but given time, we learned that it allowed better things to come into our lives.

Every full moon, I have my release ritual and have never had a shortage of what to let go of because I am always learning and growing; therefore, I often discover that I have views or ideas to release. Some things and people have a temporary place in our lives, and when we reach the end of that time, we express gratitude for what we had, let it go, and move on so that we can allow what and who we need to flow into our lives.

“I’ve been on one hell of a redneck roll for three weeks now / And it all started on the day that she walked out” (Luke Combs, When It Rains It Pours) Okay, maybe you don’t want to be on a redneck roll, but the full moon energy is in effect a couple days before and after the actual full moon. Use it to your advantage and let go of whatever weighs you down, then welcome the arrival of what lifts and lights you up.

Luceat lux vestra