Tacos and Tiaras

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

Friendship

SMILING: Friendship, Gratitude, and Love

Beginnings, Change, Friendship, Gratitude, Happiness, Hope, Love, Luceat Lux Vestra, Reflection, Simple Pleasures

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.”

– Phyllis Diller
Thirtyish years apart. My BFF-E took the picture on the left during our junior or senior year of high school. The photo on the right is a stillshot of me laughing during one of my outtake TikToks this week.

When I was in the sixth grade, my parents took me to an orthodontist to correct my overbite. My dad used to call me Bugs Bunny. 🙁 My treatment included extracting four molars followed by putting on braces during the summer going into seventh grade. They stayed on until the middle of ninth grade.

Like a lot of kids, I felt every shade of awkward in middle school, and as far as looks go, glasses and braces added outward signs of being a nerd. A musical nerd, but a nerd nonetheless.

It didn’t stop me from laughing or smiling because I was already shining my light with humor and music.

I had my core group of friends with whom I laughed and smiled, which included BFF-E who took the picture on the left in the photogrid for this post. My friends helped me to forget about anything that was bothering me, including my teeth.

I feel happy and grateful because out of the friendships I formed during childhood, I stay in touch with three of my lifelong friends almost daily. The fourth person, My Huckleberry, and I knew of each other in middle and high school, but it wasn’t until “we went to Facebook together” (hahaha) that we formed our friendship and send messages to each other throughout the day. Even when we’re going through “real shit”, we can still help each other to smile. (Oh, and sharing dank memes also helps, LOL)

Adulthood can be challenging with making new friends. Recently I’ve had online friendships formed through the ukulele community on Instagram, and most have been so helpful with my journey of learning a new instrument. Between smiling at some of their song choices and laughing at a lot of humor, my ukulele friends are lightworkers, raising the vibration.

My biggest group of online-friends-turned-IRL-friends comes from a shared interest in the music of Jimmy Buffett. I may have written about this in an older post, but in 2008 I went to my first Buffett show and tailgated with a group organized in the forums on BuffettNews.com. My first friend from that show is now my BFF-The Surfpirate. Twelve years and going strong. 🙂 Just like my childhood friends, I’ve been able to count on him for laughs, smiles, and support. He’s seen me through my best and worst times, and for that, I am always grateful.

Last night The Surfpirate and I were chatting about social media and corresponding comments on specific posts, and he and I were (no surprise) on the same page about when I feel prettiest, which is when I’m not wearing make up and am just being my goofy self and laughing, such as when I’m doing my progress check videos that become bloopers/outtake “Fbombs and Giggles” videos even when my look is “Frumpy hair. Pajama pants” and laughing.

When he and I were catching up, I had already taken the stillshot that’s the pic on the right in the photogrid for this post and immediately sent it to him in line with our messages. GFMTA.

I’ve said it before – I’d rather people think I “clean up nicely” if they catch me wearing makeup for an occasion than ask if I’m sad or sick if I’m not wearing any and they’re accustomed to seeing me in mating ritual warpaint. [Note: The other day I did wear false eyelashes and lipgloss to record videos, and I even posted a TikTok to explain.]

TikTok… a new playground for being a lightworker through humor and music. I feel certain that some viewers think I’m trying to be a musician, but if I wanted to go that route, I would have pursued it in college when I had a music scholarship. I declined it because “I didn’t want to be a starving artist” <eyeroll> But I do enjoy sharing my outtakes, AND they’re Surfpirate Approved. 🙂

Putting myself out there, I’d say my sense of humor and music have both been pretty well received, but I didn’t realize my posts would also yield kind words about my laugh and my smile. And I say “thank you” because I know what I went through with correcting my bite as well as healing from the not-so-kind words about my appearance when I was growing up.

“But you’re, like, really pretty. So you agree? You think you’re really pretty?”

– Regina George, Mean Girls

My mom told me to always say “thank you” even though I had many times of not feeling pretty, but she wasn’t encouraging me to act shallow. She taught me to accept words of kindness with simple grace. And yeah, true, some people are being obsequious with paying compliments, but saying “thanks” and moving on is enough. I’ve also learned to look at it from the speaker’s perspective, and maybe they don’t hand out compliments easily. Take kind words for what they’re worth AND appreciate that you received something for which other people wish.

I smiled and received more reasons to smile.

It’s been a week since the full moon, and when I let go of what no longer served me, better things appeared.

Manifested.

Magic.

“And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

– Meister Eckhart

Even with everything going on since Tuesday, magic moments brought many smiles to my orthodontically-corrected bite. 😉

And I am ever grateful for all the smiles, friendship, and love in my life.

Luceat lux vestra.

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.