A Brief Update on My Busy Life (Also, a call for proofreaders)

Bon dia!

No, I'm not in Brazil. In fact, I came back from the opposite climate a couple of weeks ago, after weathering a blizzard in Chesterfield, NH. Yep. But the pictures were so worth it.

I went to New England and found myself in a fairytale.

So yes, I have been traveling outside of my corner of the DMV, but much of it is for work. Though tomorrow I'll be making my quarterly trek up to Philadelphia to celebrate another birthday with my grandmother! After having lost my mom's mother at the beginning of the month, I'm starting to realize how fleeting life is. There's no time to put off the dreams, goals, and adventures you have, especially those you want to spend with someone dear to you.

If you follow my Instagram (@misstiakearney), you know David and I have been busy doing just this - traveling to vineyards, taking relaxing weekend trips, and really just making memories together. Which means the world to me, especially after a busy work week!

I'm also returning to my writing, in a manner. One of my New Year resolutions was to pen or complete a new project every quarter, and I'm happy to say that the first essay is ready for a final review. It's on the Beatles and the Paul is Dead conspiracy, which although 50 years old, is still just as startling to research as it must have been back in the 60's.

I can't wait to submit it to some lit journals, but proofreaders, I need you! Just send me a message through whatever platform you're reading this (or a comment works too) and I'll send my mini masterpiece (you'll be the judge of that) you're way!

That's all for now, readers, but I'll try to be back more often than recently. Hold me to that!

xx,

Victoria

If You Were Here I'd Be Home Now - A Philly Adventure

Hello readers!

If we're friends on Facebook or you follow me on Instagram, you probably know that David took me on a weekend trip to Philadelphia, and it was the best.

We're kind of a spontaneous couple, so it was weird to have a packed itinerary for an entire day. After arriving late Friday night to my grandma's in Malvern, And early next morning we were off to the Home of the Eagles, sorry, City of Brotherly Love.

Although I'm a proud Pennsylvanian and diehard Eagles fan (obviously), I've only been to the City three times in my life. And it's always been in the Center City region. David has a knack for being adventurous (and romantic), so our first stop was the El to go outside of the Philly I was familiar with and into West Philly.

We went as part of the Love Letter tour, which took the El out to the edges of Philadelphia to view murals painted on the sides of row houses as part of "love letter" to the City (or from lovers to each other). They range from sweet ("meet me on 52nd if only for fifty seconds") to flirtatious ("and it's a definite must-see if you're going to Philly. It's also amazing to see the City, any city really, from its outer rim. As David remarked in his Insta post "Sometimes what makes a city's character is not the center but the neighborhoods outside of it." In this case, it's true. Philadelphia is called "City of Brotherly Love" but you don't really see signs of it in Center City. Taking the El to the outskirts and seeing these murals really put a new meaning to Philadelphia.

After going on a non-touristy tour of the western edge, we did all the touristy things one does in Philly:

Kissed under The Kiss

Explored Reading Market and ate Philly cheese steaks

Got chased by dinosaurs at the Franklin Institute

Posed under every LOVE statue we could find

and tried out ice skating at waterfront (and decided ice skating in the sleet wasn't our thing)

It was an amazing adventure, and I can't wait for our next one, which will be a little closer to home: Washington DC. (More on that soon!)

xx,
Victoria

Striving Towards Positivity (Or, How I'm Learning to Stop Worrying and Love Myself)

Happy 2017, friends!

I was going to close out last year with one of those 'despite a lot of sucky moments, 2016 wasn't that bad' posts, but I was too busy watching Mariah Carey give the last fail of the year.

So here we are, another year down, new resolutions, goals and dreams to follow...but we all know the drill. A few months in (if we're lucky) it all begins to falter. The weight doesn't magically disappear (even after going to the gym almost every day week and eating quinoa and kale religiously), the new novel doesn't get written, and then its June and we're all like 'next year will be different.'

At least, that's how it is for me. And turns out, every year is the same.

I'm kind of sick of it now. I spent a year and a half as a twenty-some dependent of my parents, struggling with an unhealthy weight and stressed out over not finding a job in my field. 2016 was a miracle in that sense. I began interning at a communications firm in NoVa and moved out on my own. But something held me back even as all these great things unfolded: a lack of trust in myself. It held me back through some areas in my job and mostly in my personal life.

I guess I had the mindset that no matter how hard I worked my butt off and tried to succeed as a young professional/individual, I wasn't going to succeed. I've lost a lot for a 24 year old - I couldn't be sure that my new identity wouldn't be lost too. Worst thing: I let myself give into these doubts.

Until Matteo came along.

You all know (probably) that I love cats. Love, love, love them. And I wasn't able to move my ginger rescue with me in June. By the time I was settled in a pet-friendly apartment, Annie was comfortably resigned to the fact that I had moved on and didn't even acknowledge my presence when I drove down to take her back.

But right after that, my friend Sara contacted me, begging me to take her brother's cat's last kitten. Since I'd been getting pictures of him and his litter mates since the day after they were born, it was an easy decision. So I took little Matteo home, and something about him really boosted my mood. Whether it was his cute kitten self or the fact that there was a little creature that depended on me, I wanted to keep going.

So, that's my resolution for 2017. David and I started our 4+ day a week workout right before New Years - for me, it was partly for #bodgoals, partly to push myself to work harder. And I'm picking up where I slacked off as a writer. You'll see a lot more posts from me this year, maybe not every week, but definitely twice a month. And I'm going to be working on nonfiction lit journal submissions and my fantasy saga, so keep an eye for some sneak peeks!

My ultimate goal for this year though is to find positivity and satisfaction in myself. This has been a struggle for me my whole life, but life's too short (and also long) to hate yourself everyday of it. I've written about the challenge to love myself a few times now, but this is the year - nope, day - that I'm going to give up self loathing and strive for love.

Please share your resolutions for the new year in the comments below or on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you!

Till next time,
Victoria xx

Good Morning from Times Square

Good morning readers!

This time I'm switching things up a bit. I usually send these things out well after 12 PM and usually from a location somewhere in Virginia. This morning, I'm writing from the Gallivant at Times Square!

I've always wanted to make it to the Big Apple, and this trip has been amazing. I've been working since I got into the City yesterday afternoon until 8 last night at the New York AREA Member Reception, which was a fantastic moment to meet many of our board members, a few of whom I've written for. And after getting back to the Gallivant, I met up for drinks and dinner at the Bea with my darling friend Kaitlynn (who's lived here for five years and still agreed to take selfies with me at Times Square).

I always anticipated that New York would be overwhelming for a girl who grew up in Staunton, but there's something almost familiar about it. The energy and the "sea of humanity" (that's lodged in my brain after watching The Great Gatsby on Sunday) is something you adapt to very quickly. Keep moving, don't make eye contact, act like you know where you're going and people don't bother you. It's really no different than DC, except higher buildings and more lights.

I wish I could stay longer and explore more, but I have more work at the office and will be leaving early afternoon. But hopefully it won't be long till I'm back in the City!

Cheers,
Victoria

P.S. Shoutout to my wonderful boyfriend on his 21st birthday! Despite these crazy 36 hours, I can't wait to celebrate with him this weekend - watch my Instagram for pictures!

The blog I didn't want to write

I'm a failure.

I've thought this so many times in my life, in this year, in this month that it's not even a joke. Lost friends, missed job opportunities, failed dreams. 

The first time it happens, you kind of laugh it off and think "hey, you can't win them all." Second, third, fourth times it starts to rough you up, which is a good thing. But then that one failure hits you, the one that finally breaks you and leaves you crying in the dark.

What's even worse than the failure itself is that feeling of being so stupid to think that you could conquer this dream in the first place. Why would you even try if it was going to leave you looking like a fool who couldn't live up to her dreams?

I'm a failure. 

I never made it into the grad program I wanted. I didn't get to fulfill my dream of traveling and studying overseas. I spent a year after graduating with a lack of direction in my life. I applied to hundreds of jobs, and heard back from maybe 12.

I lost friendships I swore would be forever. I hated my body so much that I hit borderline anorexia. I spent three years trying to impress a guy who would never love me the way I hoped. I cut, abused my body, allowed people to walk all over me. I lost some of the most important role models, either physically or emotionally.

I fell, hit rock bottom more times than I can count. But why do we fall?

To pick ourselves back up. 

(Okay, that's Batman. But it's true.)

My life wouldn't be the same if I hadn't failed over and over. I wouldn't have achieved the goals I wanted through the grad program I set my heart on. Each failed job application and interview made me more determined that I'd nail the next. I ended up with a internship in the area I wanted to be since I started college, with more responsibility than most entry-level jobs offer.

I learned that not everyone is meant to remain in your life. That I am beautiful despite my flaws. That the people who truly love you, and will forever, are the ones who see you at your lowest points and still love you. That someday you have to accept that the parent, grandparent, best friend you wanted so hard to please isn't going to be there for you, and that's okay.

I've failed, I've fallen. But I'm a fighter, and I always will be.

Xoxo, Victoria 

My Life in Ten Years

I'm not very good at setting future goals for myself.

That's not to say I don't make decisions with the future in mind - I do. In fact, the future is such a important factor that I tend to stress too much about it (rather the opposite effect than the one I'm after).

But after one of my fellow fashion writers tagged me in a post "Where do you see yourself in ten years?" I really started thinking about it, and realized that my answer would be way longer than the length of a FB comment.

So I'm writing out my answer here:

I hope I'll have overcome the struggles I'm dealing with now and have the strength to better overcome the challenges I face then.

I hope I'll be a woman my mum, dad and siblings can be proud of. 

I want to see myself writing, having the confidence to call myself a writer, and not putting off writing when it feels like the words won't come.

I want to travel the world, not just to check off a bucket list, but to experience different cultures, peoples and ways of life that will enrich my own and open my eyes.

I hope to take on every opportunity and experience I gave up because the pain was too great.

I want to love more deeply and fully, even if it means that love isn't returned.

I want to have a beautiful family with my best friend and partner in crime.

I want to keep learning, whether it be a skill, language, or career.

I hope to have found whatever purpose God put me on this earth for, or at the very least be much closer to it than I am today.

Above all, I want to be the best version of myself, and be able to inspire others that if this girl could pick herself up from the lowest point in her life and fulfill her dreams, so can they.

❤️ Victoria

One Year Later

Dear readers,

I truly meant to update you on my activity sooner than this, but a month flew by much faster than I anticipated. Between freelancing and continuing to search for opportunities in NoVa, there wasn't much time to write, nor did I feel like there was much to update you on.

Of course, this was my error as a blogger: punctuality is key. However, with today marking one year since I began writing under the alias of TiaTravelstheWorld, I thought it a good time to go back and look at how my traveler's status has evolved to today.

In many ways, not so much. At least not to the degree I was hoping for. The furthest I've traveled from home in the past year has been NYC (for only a few hours, though believe me it was worth it). The most unexpected trip (aside from the U2 concert) was a weekend at the Homestead resort. I never completed my goal to travel to Wales, nor have I driven cross country, which I've been talking about for years.

Instead of this year being a time for adventure, it was a year of stressing out over how to obtain the goals for myself. I had many sleepless nights and tears shed over the small issue of finding a job in NoVa.

And finally, almost a year later, it all fell into place. At the end of May, I applied for an internship, gained an interview and was offered a position within three days - something I never thought possible! I start in a week, which means in about three days I'm moving to NoVa! (Honestly, after trying to make this a reality for three years, you have no idea how good it feels).

It was a long struggle, and one that I tried to keep everyone aside from some close friends from seeing. Though I am convinced that each seemingly-minuscule step I took throughout this year was a link to my current opportunity. I never would have gotten through to my city paper's editor if I hadn't served him coffee a dozen times, and it was that story (which never made into the paper itself) that caught the eye of the editor at the News Virginian, where I gained most of my journalism experience, worked with a fellow Eagle (!) and which in turn got me the internship at ProActive.

So, yeah, it was a hell of year. But I kept the advice of my favorite politician in mind: When you're going through Hell, keep going (Churchill), and  it led to something I never thought I'd be capable within a few years of graduating.

Now I've hit the most surreal moment of my life so far: I'm breaking out of my two star town like I've wanted to for years...and it's happening so fast, faster than I expected. Somehow I've found the job, the car, the apartment (just this morning!) and it's like whoa, slow down a minute. It's been a whirlwind of trying to catch up with friends before I move and making sure I have all the last minute necessities together.

(Also, I realized with moving on my own away from family, children and pets I'll have more time to write!)

But back to traveling! Of course, being closer to DC means more non-touristy adventures, but there are several trips I have coming up: back to NYC (for longer than seven hours), Philly, Baltimore, and a few other destinations too. The biggest one will be Geneva next year (TBD) when David's parents move to Europe and I get to go with my love to see one of the many countries on my bucket list. Don't worry, I'll keep you updated!

I honestly have all of you to thank for keeping my head (and soul) above water as I struggled to find direction. I've received more encouragement from my readers here and I can't thank you enough. Wherever you are, this isn't goodbye - I'll be in touch through here, phone, Facebook or person! I love you all.

Xoxo,

Victoria