A fall kick-off Friday Five

1. What is your local lake/river/sea?
It used to be the Grand River and Lake Michigan but now it's the lame Huron River. It makes for a scenic canoe trip but is only a good ride if it's rained recently--we grounded our canoe in the middle of the river at least 5 times a few weeks ago. I never thought I'd say this but I miss Lake Michigan so much. Wah!

2. Do you believe in dragons and unicorns?
Um, no. However, I did have high hopes for the Komodo Dragon Josh and I visited at Shedd Aquarium last spring. Josh is pretty into said dragons and briefed me about them before our visit. I guess they are the only animal that preys on humans and are only found in Madagascar. I expected Shedd's Komodo to be taunting and leering at us from behind the glass. Instead, he sunned himself on a rock and barely lifted his head. BOR-ing.

3. What is your favorite fruit?
Pineapple.

4. Do you smoke?
No way. I've never even tried smoking because inhaling smoke never seemed very appealing to me. And now that I've seen what smoking can do to your oral health (in addition, of course, to the destructive systemic effects), I strongly encourage everyone who does smoke to quit! (shout out to Mom here for doing a tremendous job trying to quit smoking right now. I'm very proud of you, Mom!)

5. What are your bedtime rituals?
Jump in bed and fall asleep --> wake up startled --> refuse to get ready --> slide out of bed, usually onto floor in protest --> brush teeth, wash face, floss --> change into pajamas --> moisturize (face, arms, chapstick) --> set two alarm clocks (7 minutes apart) --> turn on white noise-producing machine (fan or sound machine) --> sometimes put on sleep eye mask --> hopefully catch some z's!

Sometimes in the winter, I turn on a heated blanket 20 minutes before I get into bed and then turn it off once I get in. Mmmm, toasty. What can I say? I'm a high maintenance sleeper.

xoxox