It's New Years Day. A time for reflection, intentions, turning over leaves. And I feel it, the itch - the molting of one skin as something soft and new prepares to make itself known to the world.
It's been a beautiful year. A year with lessons, adventures, firsts. I've spent quality time with friends and family and through my travels have met good people and tried new things. I've taken up a fresh hobby. I've settled into my promotion at work and have found a groove with my team. I've reflected on what is important to me in my habits and surroundings and am building momentum for the next chapter of my life.
As I look ahead to the new year, I'm excited for what's to come. Curious, eager. I feel like I'm standing on a precipice, and with all my gifts and experience and wisdom and courage, I'm ready to leap.
And so the word I am channeling into 2026 is METAMORPHOSIS. May I shed old patterns. May the year bring a fresh new skin of opportunity, community, and life. May I and my path emerge more clearly into view.
In 2025, I...
Got my hands dirty with cousins at the annual Portuguese crab feed in Hollister
My golf shoes are purple and it's my favorite part of the whole affair
Enjoyed multiple Monterey trips with my parents, playing golf with my dad at Pacific Grove, shopping in Caramel with my mom, beach reads, and delicious dinners and sunsets together
Had quite the winning streak when I...Got a perfect score on the card game my family's been playing for decades (Shanghai Rummy) - the first one among our group to do so!
Won my team's Men's March Madness pool (and didn't watch a single game)
Closed out a beautiful year in Mathilde's deep leadership women's Shala
James and Caroline,
at Caroline's birthday wine pairing lunch in Geyserville
College roommate Preeyanka, at brunch in Benicia
Hiking Muir Woods with old Zendesk friends Jamye and Katie
Running into Arturo, who I hadn't seen in years,
on Divisadero in the city
Kasey, Kelsey, Liz, and more at Kasey's kids' birthday parties
Sushi in SF with Lizzie, who I met at my first coliving in Spain
Reveled in a cozy girls-only trip (sans kiddos!) with Amanda, Kristen, and Brittany in Denver, where we enjoyed hot tub talks and card games, hiked Red Rocks in the snow, and became the Witches of Wheat Ridge
Said goodbye to CODE, the salon I've gone to for 10 years, as it shuttered its doors, but was able to stick with my hair stylist, Denice, at a new spot in the city
RIP CODE
Got together with my entire Procurement Team at an onsite in San Francisco, where we worked a bit but mostly did fun team-building activities like ramen making, ping pong, and cable car rides
My Ops team: Josue, Meara, Grant, and Flavia
The whole team!
Met my Godsister Chelsea's new baby, Enzo
Went on a family trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, where I...
Spent time with the fam
Played golf with dad
Hiked Manoa Falls with my brother
Saw my first drone show at the Spam Jam
Enjoyed peaceful morning yoga under the tropical trees
Watched the parade and ate sopas at the Portuguese festa in Hollister
Cousins Kendall, Dylan, and Aubree
holding the rosary in the parade
Saw even more cousins at Sabrina's high school graduation party in Folsom
Housesat for friends, once for Katie in Lafayette, and also for James and Caroline in Oakland
Enjoyed tacos, wine, dancing, and good conversation with Faith at Laird's member appreciation day in Napa
Continued my yoga practice
Propagated more plant babies
Went on many a neighborhood stroll
Kept up playing Wordle and Connections almost every day
Was invited to two Giants games with box seats thanks to work, and even got a pic with Lou Seal
Celebrated cousin Claire's baptism
Ran around the train museum with the Brookshires for a quick visit on their summer CA trip
Successfully launched Brex, a 2-year project, at work - a huge milestone in the year and my career at Zendesk
Celebrating with our Brex team at dinner in the city,
where we had a bespoke wine bottle pairing for each course
And with champagne and caviar at Domain Carneros
Went to my 20 year high school reunion with Britt - which ended up being a blast
The Browns Valley Elementary crew
Was in full Tia Kelly mode visiting Amanda, Andrew, and Zaeem in Detroit as they prepared for the arrival of baby Jibran
Library visit
Riding in an original Model T Ford
Family walk
Went to my first professional women's sports game: The Golden State Valkyries (women do it better)
Played literary trivia with Melissa and Gillian at Book Society in Berkeley (we didn't win but thought we had a great team name: "East of Readin'")
Discovered and spent a morning observing a curious, adorable, toddler opossum in our backyard
Hit an exciting personal financial goal
Played for the first time in the Jay Henry Memorial Golf Tournament (I'm usually a volunteer; this year I did both)
We shoot Jameson when someone gets a birdie...
maybe one day it'll be me!
Embarked on a 10-week working-from-Europe trip in September that would take me to France, Portugal, and Italy
Explored the south of France, near Nice, for the first time, and fell in love with the charming overlaps of French and Italian architecture, food, and culture in this region during my three weeks there
Corners of Eze
Boat party near Cannes with my fellow co-livers
Hiking Cap d'Antibes
Was so fortunate to overlap with my godparents and spend a day together exploring Nice (my padrinho joked that he got to see his nice niece in Nice)
Worked from beautiful locations while abroad, such as poolside at the villa I lived in, in Biot
Attended a Zendesk managers training in Lisbon that was specifically for directors - I learned a ton of valuable information but most importantly walked away with the confidence to be unapologetically empowered to lead my team and with a feeling that I really deserved to be in that room, at this level
With my counterpart at work, Kevin,
overlooking the Alfama on our day exploring Lisbon
Was able to get reservations at Belcanto, the Michelin-starred Lisbon restaurant (which was delicious, but as an overall experience sadly left something to be desired at that price point)
Made fast friends with a number of strangers in Porto, from inviting a German backpacker to join my table at a taverna, to getting sunset drinks and dinner with a couple other solo travelers after a walking tour, to an evening out with one of the women staying at my co-living (all of these lovely evenings initiated by me simply saying, "Would you like to join me?")
Got hit on via Google translate, a hilarious first
Toured the Douro wine region
Had the time of my life staying at Chateau Coliving for a female digital nomads retreat
Peekaboo from the chateau
My room
The gaggle of girls
Did a morning cold dip in the frigid October ocean at Utah Beach
Enjoyed a constant swirl of planned and impromptu chateau activities, from book swaps to dance parties to pub trivia
Watched shooting stars in the darkness of the grounds while holding hands together and yelling "cul de poulet" (chicken butt) at the moon like wolves
Was vulnerable and brave in raising my hand to do the hot seat (me bringing one topic to the group and getting feedback from everyone) and choosing to participate in the Red Tent (an intense, ritualistic, enveloping women's circle where each woman shares what's on her mind and receives no feedback)
Played (and loved) my first-ever RPG (role-playing game) - I realized I carried over so many high school prejudices about D&D and how nerdy it was to play, but it's really just collective storytelling and we had so much fun building a world together
With our Game Master Dana
Got to fulfill a dream I didn't know I had - karaoking the intro to Beauty and the Beast while in a small provincial town
Me as Provincial Belle and my merry provincial townies
With a King's cape and a crown of leaves, was The Fall of the Patriarchy for our chateau Halloween Party
Most importantly, at the chateau, felt deep connections through ongoing conversation, laughed until I cried, felt so much joy in community, and made lasting friendships
Transitioned over to "my apartment" in Paris (that phrase never gets old to me) and enjoyed...
a Sunday lunch plucked from the various market stalls
with Letizia
(cheekily located on a boat on the banks across from Notre Dame)
Soaking up Seine and tower views
Meeting friends of friends
The scallops I always dream of at Café des Ministères
Journaling at a bistro
Atmosphere at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery
Took some much-needed time off from work to go on a two-week trip through Italy, first with Letizia and then with Azzurra
Was photographed across many a table by my favorite photographer, Letizia
Pisa
La Spezia
Cinque Terre
Spent two days hiking the Cinque Terre during L'estate di San Martino (a frequent beautiful weather window in early November attributed to Saint Martin due to his feast day on the 11th), where it wasn't too hot and the tourists were scarce, making for peaceful and invigorating days with phenomenal, unrushed views
Our balcony in Corniglia, the middle town
Tried my hand at modern (left-handed) art
Coming to a MOMA near you
Saw the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa from an exciting different vantage point - the recently reopened city walls
Finally met Letizia's dad, Virgilio, thus solidifying our 15-year friendship, and spent a gorgeous day in the mountains with them and her brother, enjoying a BBQ and toasting to Leti's upcoming birthday
Used a toilet al fresco with a view over the olive trees and Pisa (bucket-toting required)
As Letizia urged, this was a "unique opportunity"
and I have to confess it was quite refreshing
Got aperitivo in Florence with my old friend, Anna, whom I met back in 2010 when I was an intern in Siena
Took my first trip to the Dolomites, with Azzurra and my godson Gabriele, where we...
Took a horse-drawn carriage
Stuffed ourselves with the multi-course meals
and delicious buffets
Enjoyed adults-only time hiking, relaxing at the spa,
and chatting uninterrupted thanks to the hotel's daycare
Practiced counting in English with our lights out game
Explored the unadulterated snow-covered mountains
Took in special solo time with Azzurra, enjoying dressing up and the early holiday decor in Milan
Just loved spending quality time with the now-talking Gabriele, as we played, read books, and corrected each other's Italian
Came home in time to host Thanksgiving dinner with the family
Snuck in one more quick visit with Kristen and spent a cozy day chatting, lunching, and yoga-ing together
Celebrated my dad's biggest highlight of the year - his first hole in one!
At Wildhorse in Davis
Posed with Brittany at my company's holiday party; here we are on the cover of the next 40 under 40 magazine, coming to newsstand near you
Squeezed in a couple end-of-year Tia Kelly moments...
At the Cal Academy aquarium with Emily
Reading to Rowan at his sister's birthday party
Tried my hand at felting for the first time and am terribly pleased with my little guy, Gnomeo
Sipped peppermint cocoa and read my book in the slow glow of our Christmas tree
Celebrated Christmas with the family in Hollister
All the cousins
And topped the year off with my birthday celebrations - a private yurt dinner and spa day in the wine country!
With Brittany, Maryana, and Alex
Travel
- Monterey and Carmel, CA (many times, as usual!)
- Geyserville, CA
- Denver and Boulder, CO
- Honolulu, HI
- Calistoga, CA
- Detroit, MI
- Biot, Antibes, Eze, Nice, Golfe-Juan, Cagnes Sur Mer, Villefranche-sur-Mer, and Cannes, France
- Lisbon and Porto, Portugal
- Normandy and Paris, France
- Pisa, La Spezia, Le Cinque Terre, Florence, Milan, and Ortisei (in the Dolomites), Italy
Live Shows
- Eliane Elias at Blue Note, Napa
- Orville Peck at Stern Grove
Spotify Wrapped
For a second I thought my Wrapped almost looked cool, if not mainstream, but then I had to get into a nostalgic Glee Cast groove in November. Oh, well.
Books
This year I made my way through 64 books and read several I just adored.
Here are my standout novels:
- The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne (if you love Irish literature as much as I do)
- Martyr by Kaveh Akbar
- Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
- Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
- All Fours by Miranda July
Jaw-dropping non-fiction (I'm normally not a huge non-fiction fan but I recently learned about the sub-genre "narrative non-fiction" which is right up my alley. These two surpassed most of the novels I read this year for storytelling and entertainment value.):
- The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
- Papillon by Henri Charriere (jury's out on whether all this really happened)
And for something lighthearted but still with a bit of depth:
- The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Obsessions
- The Chateau - if you had a conversation with me this year, you probably heard about the chateau (and you read about it above!). This place is magical - a stunning architectural behemoth of a "house" that feels like a castle, it's surrounded by lush forest, enveloped in moody weather patterns, and imbued with a weighty history. And yet the energy of the place is all light and laughter. My room had a four-poster bed and turrets. The castle was filled with eclectic, international, soulful women. I caught sight of a wild boar out my window while on a Zoom call. We sang karaoke and poured our hearts out and howled at the moon. The kettle was always on. I ate Neufchâtel cheese every day. I felt seen. The chateau will have a place in my heart forever.
- RosalÃa - ever since Letizia flagged her new album, Lux, to me, it's been a constant go-to. Had Spotify Wrapped not, well, wrapped as early as it did, she would've cracked the top 5 for sure. She even features a Portuguese fado singer on one song. My parents gave me tickets to her summer show for my birthday, and I'm excited to experience her live!
- My purple Italian golf shoes - seriously, look at how gorgeous they are. It's my second favorite thing about golfing, after spending time with my dad and before being out in nature. I do not golf in the mud.
