January wasn't the best month of reading for me. I ended up starting a bunch of books that I didn't finish. A lot of books I just couldn't get into, and then the one book I did get into I had to return to the library because there was a waitlist for it. (Luckily, I just got that book back off the waitlist myself, so hopefully I'll be able to finish it in February).



Despite all that, I did manage to take advantage of some freezing cold weekends to hunker down and at least read a handful of books.

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
I like Colleen Hoover's books for the fast-paced, dialogue-driven plots. This book was enjoyable, but not quite as captivating as some of Hoover's other books that I've read. I read it on a frigid weekend and it was the perfect book for a Saturday when it was too cold to leave the house.

Confess by Colleen Hoover
I read another Hoover book on another freezing winter weekend. This was more enjoyable than Maybe Someday, and I found myself really invested in the main character Auburn's fight to re-gain custody of her son.

Dietland by Sarai Walker
This was my January book club book, and I had lots of mixed feelings about it. I liked that the story was fast-paced, and I was curious to follow the protagonist's journey, but I also thought this book was weirdly violent and strange. It's about an overweight woman who is contemplating weight loss surgery, but before doing it agrees to a series of "challenges" that question society's typical beauty standards. Parts of the main character's story were relatable, but parts of it were just too out there<.

The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
This was a book club book and I felt pretty meh about it. The writing is absolutely terrible, but you can't deny that Tiffany is funny and that comes across in the book. There were times when I was laughing at her stories, but I don't think a book is the format in which she shines. Plus this was a Tucker Max production -- gross.

I've been sitting here for more than a week trying to process all the feelings from the Eagles first Super Bowl win in franchise history.



In this past week, I watched the video clip of the "Philly Special" more times than I can remember. I purchased the exact same Super Bowl champions shirt in both short sleeve and long sleeve versions, so I can wear it no matter what the weather. I ordered a copy of the Philadelphia Inquirer declaring us champions so that I can frame it. I read news coverage and listened to podcasts.

It was a crazy week of emotions, but what really drove the whole thing home was being at the parade in Philly on Thursday.



Pretty much first thing Monday morning after the win, I was texting my brother trying to figure out the details of a last-minute trip up to Philly. As soon as we knew the parade was going to be on Thursday, I moved my entire calendar full of meetings (big thanks to my very flexible and understanding coworkers) and started hashing out logistics details with my brother.

Challenge number one was getting in and out of the city. There were only a certain number of train passes and they sold out pretty much instantly. That left us trying our luck with Lyft -- which actually worked out really well.

Thursday at 5:30 a.m., four of us piled into a Lyft at my brother's house. The parade wasn't going to start until 11 a.m., but there was no chance we were risking bad traffic on the roads. Leaving that early let us cruise into the city with no problem at all.

We headed to Lil Pete's for breakfast. The place was packed, so service wasn't speedy, but that actually worked in our favor. It let us sit inside a nice warm diner and have access to a clean bathroom for a couple of hours. Based on reports we had seen, we knew there were not going to be nearly enough porta-potties for the crowds expected, so clean bathrooms were a lifesaver.


My brother basically being the mayor of the diner. They handed him the TV remote and our own water pitcher.

After breakfast we headed to my brother's friend's house in south Philly. We walked down Ben Franklin Parkway, where a re-run of the Super Bowl game was blasting over the jumbotrons to entertain the spectators that were already lined up.



I'm not sure how long the walk was, but it got us to a slightly less packed part of town where we could more easily see the parade go by.

We posted up near Catherine and Broad Street about an hour before the parade started and two hours before we expected it to pass us. It got kind of cold standing around just waiting, but literally everyone was in such a good mood and it was easy to make fast friends.



Plus the cops on the parade route were trying to keep spectators entertained. So we'd have chant offs against the other side of the street. I don't know how many times I sang the Eagles fight song on Thursday.


Yes that does say "Ertz, wife swap?"



My dad was at home and was texting me and my brother updates of where the parade was on the route so we knew when to expect it, but cell service was so terrible on the day of the parade that I wasn't getting a lot of texts in time.

But eventually we saw the buses coming down Broad Street. Carson, Nick and Doug were in the first bus that passed us.







Chris Long in his ridiculous fur wasn't too far behind.





Some of the players were out on the street walking along side of the buses. We saw Jalen Mills and his crazy green hair and Jason Kelce in his mummers costume.

You could just tell those guys were eating the whole thing up as much as the crowd.



The parade itself wasn't super long, and after all the buses passed us, we headed back up toward Fairmont Park to meet up with some of my brother's other friends to watch the speeches.



There was kind of a long delay between the end of the parade and the speeches. I imagine this had something to do with the broadcast schedule and the awesome flyover we got just as the official program was beginning.



The whole thing started with highlights of the game, and then players and coaches and Howie Roseman gave some speeches.

This is what I remember about the speeches:

• Carson Wentz seemed as genuine in his speech as I imagine he is in real life.
• Nick Foles didn't speak for very long at all.
• Doug Pederson promised us more.
• Jason Kelce was...well...insane. Dropping F-bombs, screaming in to the mic, getting everyone fired up.

After the speeches ended, they started blasting "We are the Champions" over the speakers while sending green confetti flying into the air.

It was also right at that time in a sea of millions, that we randomly bumped into my cousins who had also come into town for the parade.



When all was said and done, we headed back to one of the bars, where we had strategically scheduled a Lyft to pick us up and take us back to my brother's house. We got there about 35 minutes before the car was supposed to arrive, and then spent a bunch of time sitting in traffic to get out of the city. It took us 20 minutes just to make it around the block.

But we eventually got on Kelly Drive when it re-opened and moved pretty quickly after that. I think it only took us about an hour or so to get back. For comparison it probably took us about 25-30 minutes to get in with no traffic.

About 12 hours after we left my brother's house in the morning, we made it back. I then hopped right into my car to drive back to DC. It was a long, but incredibly epic day. I'm so glad I went to the parade. After all, your football team only wins its first Super Bowl in franchise history once.