Merry Christmas to all! I hope everyone enjoyed their time off, hopefully spent with family and friends! I had quite a nice Christmas, though this nasty flu or whatever I have decided that I shouldn't get to taste or smell any of my favorite foods this year! As a result, I think I may be the first woman in history to actually lose weight over the holidays! Since everything tasted like cardboard, even my beloved mashed potatoes got passed over this year, and I am still dropping pounds like you wouldn't believe! Aside from that bit of trauma, my Christmas was lovely and low-key, which is how we all like it, right?

The restaurant has been crazy the last few days- boxing week shoppers are taking advantage of their time off to drop immense amounts of money in the stores, and then our restaurant. We servers are all used to a nice lull in the afternoons from about 2 to 3 30 during which we can relax and hopefully grab a bite to eat, but these past few days we have enjoyed no such thing! Instead, our days seem never ending, filled with a continous rush of people flooding our sections, arms overflowing with shopping bags and small children.

Today I had a different sort of table- rather than a group of chatty women, I found myself greeting two youngish men who ordered quickly and severely- they looked very serious and had lots of paperwork spread all over the table. I read their vibe quickly- on a short lunch hour, no time for small talk from their waitress, just want to order and eat and get some work done. That was fine with me- more time for other tables. So I grabbed their drinks and wrote down their order, then, out of habit, asked if they would like to start with an appetizer. The man on the right shook his head brusquely, eyes already back down on his work. The man on the left leaned back and studied me, then smiled for the first time. "Not unless you're on the list" he finally said. I laughed and informed him that no I was not, and left them to their Very Important Business.

Original? Not really. Funny? Not especially. But it was a nice change in pace from my hectic day and really, what girl can claim to hate a reminder that someone finds her a little bit desirable?

So. Foreign Boyfriend is now officially Foreign Ex-Boyfriend, or Feb. I know, I know readers, this came as much of a shock to me as it is to you. It all happened rather fast- he is already home in Foreignland, enjoying his foreign friends and foreign food and foreign weather. Which is great for him, I suppose- I mean, I am happy that he is happy, and I really do care about him. It's just that we are on this weird plane between friendship and relationship where I just can't quite tell whether he still has feelings for me or is just trying to forget me. Anyway, more on that later.

The important part of this post is really that Feb has challenged me to a Best Body of 2007 Competition. Before his sudden flight from Canada (pun intended) and all things me, Feb and I were doing that cute couple thing where you exercise together and try to eat healthy and be encouraging to each other. "Honey, now you know I think you look great, and if you want to eat that chocolate, you can, but don't you think there is a better decision to be made here?" You know, that sort of thing. I mean, it's not like either of us are morbidly obese, or even overweight, but we are very concious of our bodies and wanted to look and feel great- for each other and ourselves. And it was actually going pretty well.

Now that Feb is back in Foreignland, he seems to have a renewed passion for this part of his life, and apparently has a very strong passion for this part of mine. A little strange for someone who wanted to end the relationship, but whatever. I'll enjoy whatever interest he chooses to display in my life while I can get it!

So, at the end of the coming year, Feb and I are going to compare our bodies and decide who has earned the title of Best Body of 2007. Now readers, here's where I need your help. How will we decide who has the better body? Who can judge such a thing, especially when one body is female and the other is male, not to mention the fact that these two bodies are thousands of kilometers apart!? And what should be the prize for the victorious body-sculpter?

If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them! In the meantime, I think I am off to a headstart- it's only December and I have been hackingly, horribly, muscle-aching and throat-scratchingly sick for the past four days. This means that I have been on a steady diet of soup and tea- not exactly a filling and satisfying menu, but definitely one that will work to shrink my stomach and probably cause me to lose a couple of pounds. (Disclaimer- I am definitely not going to continue with this "diet" as a means of losing weight in the future, but while I physically cannot take in anything but soup and tea, I'm darn well going to enjoy the benefits of it!)

So, here's to the coming year of healthy choices and fierce competition! May the best body win!

I hate that cheesy "first blog post" where people spend tons of time talking about who they are and everything going on in their lives. So I won't. I'm just going to write. If other people choose to read it, great, if not, well, I will have achieved some sort of catharsis anyway!

Thanks for stopping by.