It’s private, but you and I see it every day.  It’s my struggle with weight.

I’d like to say that I’m fine with what I weigh; that it hasn’t stopped me from doing what I want to do, and be who I want to be. But that wouldn’t be true. And if I hope my blog is anything, it’s honest. So, here is the elephant in the room. It’s me. (Pun kinda intended.)

I’ve been bigger than I am now, and certainly smaller. I’ve been on every diet known to mankind. Cabbage soup? HCG? Weight Watchers? Nutri-system? Yes, all those and more. I was on my first diet at the age of 12. I can’t count how many I’ve been on since then. I KNOW what to eat, what not to eat, and how to lose weight. I’ve done it plenty of times.

Over the years and through it all, I’ve been lucky to have friends and family that continue to love and support me for who I am, not what I look like. Although my outside has been many sizes, my heart and soul continues to be as big as it can be, and I think that’s a good thing.

I AM active – which surprises many people. All my activity has probably kept me from having any weight related problems. I bike (averaging about 25 miles at a time, and even done a century!), walk (sometimes run), take dance classes, play volleyball (when I can), garden and more.

So, why am I writing this post?

I went to a screening of the “Weight of the Nation” documentary by HBO – put on by the Advocates for Health in Action (AHA) this week. We only watched the section on childhood obesity called “Children in Crisis” of the documentary – but the impact of the obesity epidemic on our children and our nation just hit home for me.  (You can also watch the full documentary on their website at: http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com)

Here are some telling figures:

•  Children that have a TV in their room are more likely to be obese

•  79 million Americans are pre-diabetic

•  Half of obese teenage girls become extremely obese by their early 30’s

•  In the US in 2010, over 63% of people are overweight or obese

•  Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15%. Today, more than two out of three states, 38 total, have obesity rates over 25%

How can Cities and Towns help?

It’s not JUST personal responsibility that contributes to weight gain. There ARE things that cities, towns, leaders and advocates can do to lead the charge to a healthier path.

For instance, the documentary included a great story about Mayor Dean of Nashville – whose concern that Tennessee had one of the highest obesity rates of any state, and the plans he put in place to change that trajectory. He led the charge to invest in making the city more walk and bike friendly, adding more greenways, sidewalks and bike lanes; created programs to get people outside, apps to track your activities, and engaged the community to come together around this important issue.

It’s not a severe problem that we currently have in Wake County – in fact, the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program recently ranked Wake as the overall healthiest county in North Carolina for the fourth consecutive year.  But we can’t stop now.  We must continue to invest in programs and infrastructure that keeps us on the path towards healthy lifestyles.

From Slate.com

In case you think this is just a “social program” keep in mind that an obese workforce costs American businesses an estimated $73.1 billion a year.  So a “healthy town” decreases costs for business owners. Think of it as Economic Development.

So, again, why am I writing about all of this? 

Well, I’m putting it out there… being honest about who I am, and what envision for me and my family.  And this all lines up with what I hope we can achieve for our entire community.

This also a way to document my journey, be honest about my struggle while hoping other folks will accept me for the path that I am on.

My commitment is to eat healthier, stay active, and find ways to help us all live productive, fun, healthy and loving lives.

I hope you’ll support me in this journey.

(Featured photo by Natalie Johnson)

Why?

Because it’s one of the times during the year that I can give gifts to friends and family to let them know how much they mean to me every day throughout the year – without folks thinking that I’m a nutcase. (Ok, maybe they think I’m a nutcase, but that’s beside the point.)

Anyway, I’m kind of known around my group of friends as the “gift guru.” I work really hard on finding a gift that shows the gratitude, love and regard that I have for the recipient. For me, finding the “right” gift isn’t a chore. It’s a opportunity to demonstrate or show love to that person. (Have you read the book “The 5 Love Languages“ by Gary Chapman?” Great book that speaks to finding how to best show love to someone, so that they REALLY get it.  Worth a read, for sure. )

For me, the fun of gift giving isn’t just the brainstorming on what the best gift is, it is also the hunt to find, create or make the gift. It’s the act of unconditional love, an opportunity for me to demonstrate my love, esteem or care for that other person – and not wanting anything in return, except to hopefully see the look on their face when they receive the gift.

Having said all of that –I thought I would showcase some of my more interesting gift ideas, in case you are having a hard time finding a gift for one of your loved ones.

(NOTE: I do NOT get anything from directing you to these items, and I make no warranties on their applicability or appropriateness for your intended.)

For the Crazy Kid (Or Young at Heart) 

Jumping Stilts

JUMP!

These are not for the faint of heart – but very cool. They are bouncy stilts that will allow the user to jump, run and do crazy things once they are attached to the legs of the wearer. You can jump as high as 9ft and run as fast as 20 miles an hour. They are made by several vendors – Power Risers and AirTrekers, or look at this page. You may have seen them used at the 2008 Olympics.  (Below is a video of my son, once he got the hang of them!)

Make sure to order the safety gear – helmets and such.

Wheels

We love the Trikke – it’s like nothing you’ve probably seen before. A combination of a bike and skiing kind of vehicle. Takes some time to get used too, but it’s fun and a great workout. They even carry them at some Target Stores now.

Street Surfing

Have you seen these – they are like Skateboards but flexible. My kids have them and used them all the time – they have the Wave Board . Lots of fun, allowing you to get around.  Again, wear protective gear.

Flying and Fun things

The AR Drone is for those of you that like flying toys – and this one is  controlled by your iPhone.

All this – 4 propellers,  HD cameras, stable and strong structured vehicle, wide angle lens, wifi, video storage of your video recording, and all controlled from your iPhone.  What’s not to like?

Lasers are Fun for ALL

FireFly by FireFly

If you haven’t seen the FireFly – then you are missing out on the coolest new toy.  It’s a like a party light for the next generation.  Put it in a kids room, bring it to a party, or do what we do, and take it to a bon fire and watch it play lights through the smoke.  And, it was invented by a local Cary inventor.

And, if you like green lasers, and who doesn’t, everyone should have a green laser pointer to use on camping trips. Use it to point out the constellations, making sure, of course, not to point it at any planes in the air.

If YOU have skills

Photo by s Bar

If you have the skills – make it. Make the gift! I love being able to give something from the heart AND hands. I can crochet, but not really knit. My crochet skills are average – but I can put out a reasonably well-made afghan. I just finished one for my brother, and I made one for my mom a few years ago. This is the kind of gift that requires planning but is treasured for a long, long time. You can take a quick class at Michael’s, or do what I did – learn from a book.

If you cook, make up a “gift certificate” for a meal for a friend – or make something that freezes well, and gift that as a gift. Any mom I know would LOVE the ability to take out a frozen, home made meal. That’s better than any coffee cup.

If THEY don’t have skills

Cooking Class by Jeff Kubina

I love the idea of cooking classes, or classes to learn a particular skill set. A Southern Season has great cooking classes, as does Capri Flavors in Morrisville.  Both have awesome classes. Also think about photography classes, sewing classes, whatever. (Did you know that the Town of Cary has classes? Just sayin’) A class that you can take WITH them, is even better.

Make it, give it

My last 2 fun gift ideas were for different recipients, but they had something in common.  They were gifts of “experiences.”

For my mother’s birthday, I created a Bucket List of Experiences.  What I did was to purchase gift certificates for her (and our family) for a host of events and experiences.  Included in the bucket (yes, I got a galvanized bucket from the hardware store, and decorated it) were trips to the Art Museum, a Segway Tour of downtown Raleigh, going to the Zipline in High Point, lunch with friends,  etc.  I also included free or cheap “gift certificates” – like a trip to the makeup counter for a “girls makeover”, Movie night (with a gift card), and “personal shopper” trip.

For a wedding gift, I created a  Year of Date Nights for the Newlywed couple, and put it in a travel memory box.  This way, they can create their own memories for their first year together.  Included in the box were 12 envelopes  – 1 for each month.  Again, the Segway Tour (I love that!), a charitable Bike Ride (they are cyclists), a coffee date (with gift certificate to Starbucks), a membership to the NC Art Museum (a gift membership gets them in many times, for a number of events), a membership to the NC Zoo,  events at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre, a Movie Night, Dinner Out… etc. Pick the events and activities that are right for the couple.

It’s around the corner

With the holidays just around the corner, it seems the perfect time to say THANK YOU to all of you that have taken the time to read, comment and share my blog.  Sitting down to write a blog is harder than I thought and I’ve learned a lot through the process.  It’s quite a process – organizing my thoughts, thinking about what I might actually want to share, and what YOU may want to read.

Chanukah starts this weekend, and Christmas isn’t that far away – so I hope that these crazy gifts gave you some ideas, and maybe made it a bit easier for you to find the perfect present for the ones you love.

Thanks again for reading!

Why travel to another city?

Although I took vacation from my “day job” to attend this Intercity trip, it was definitely a “work trip.” Every minute was filled with meeting our host city representatives and learning about their environment.  Many of these municipalities are dealing with the same challenges and opportunities that we face in Cary. Whether it was issues surrounding growth, planning, transit, or sports or public art – we got a chance to hear about their solutions. Our trip to the “Texas Hill Country” included time in Austin, Round Rock and a lesson on transit challenges from the folks in Leander.

Our goal and objective was to gather ideas, hear from our various speakers about their lessons learned and to hopefully come back with a slate of actionable items and thoughts to move forward and to continue to create and support the best place to live, work, do business, and raise a family.

Trip Report

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN:  We started in Austin, meeting the Honorable Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Representative Mark Strama; both are extremely passionate about their city.  Our lunch was on the Mayor’s Balcony – I have the distinct feeling that Mayor Weinbrecht would love one of those.

Austin has a population of more than 750,000 people and is the 4th largest city in Texas.  They are home to the University of Texas in Austin, the music and film festival – South by Southwest (SXSW), and known for their slogan, “Keeping Austin Weird.” We were treated to a historical overview of Austin’s past, the public private partnerships that have shaped Austin, along with a wonderful walking tour of downtown.  Their downtown has undergone a revitalization – and they are continuing to make progress.

MetroRail

TRANSIT: Austin has been making strides in the area of Transit – and they MUST as they have the third worst traffic in the country.  They are limited by their current road structure – so the only way out of that pain is to embrace multi-modal transportation and mass transit.  We rode the new Metro Rail which was a real treat. These rail cars are Swiss designed, diesel/electric, quiet and energy efficient with places for cyclist to hang or hold their bikes.  Transit is gaining traction, and more and more people are starting to take advantage of it.

SPORTS: We were lucky to get a tour of the University of Texas at Austin – Texas Memorial Stadium. Standing on the field was amazing – it’s a state of the art facility from the field turf to player workout area, they were gracious hosts to our large group.

Dell Diamond, Round Rock

We also got a chance to visit Dell Diamand, the home of the Round Rock Express, a triple A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Texas Rangers, and baseball hall of famer Nolan Ryan.  The City of Round Rock owns the Dell Diamond, and they were wonderful hosts to us at the field (or as they like to call it, their convention center.)

Round Rock: This is a city very similar to Cary in many respects – with close to 100,000 people (Cary has 140,000+), with a 63.4% population increase in the last 10 years.  (Cary had a 43% increase from 2000-2010.) Our tour consisted of their downtown area, several communities and a drive through areas where new hospitals and community colleges were locating.

Old Control Tower onsite

Mueller – Greenfield Development: One of the most interesting tours was of a new mixed use area near Austin, built on the site of the old Robert Mueller Municipal airport. The 700 acre site became available when the airport relocated in 1999, and it will eventually be home to almost 10,000 people.  Built with a master plan, significant innovative investment methodologies, it’s a unique design, home to families, businesses, a town center, senior community, school, parks and greenways.

ImagineAustin: An overview of the process and comprehensive plan that Austin put together in their efforts to move forward.  Creating ImagineAustin was truly an effort that included citizens from all over Austin. The city put together a well thought out plan for citizen engagement to create the vision for their future.  From their “meeting in a box”, to Town Halls and reaching out to church groups and through online methods, the staff used any and all mechanism to connect. The Comprehensive Plan took 2 years, and is just going to CIty Council now.

Lessons Learned

1. A walkable downtown really brings folks out and about. The Austin streetscape project is comfortable, at a human scale, and I can absolutely see something like that in Downtown Cary. Their street trees were planted in a way that protects the trees, and offers a lovely canopy while protecting the root systems.
   

   New streetscape

2. Revitalization can be done in a sustainable way – their City Hall used native plantings that are watered from runoff from the air-conditioning units.
3. Public Art is important to Austin – seen in their bridges, within City Hall, it’s part of who they are, and what defines them.
4. They embrace what’s unique about them.  Whether it’s their “Bat Bridge,” their motto of being the “Live Music Capital of the World” – they highlight and market the heck out of it.  We should do the same for our Amateur Sports leadership.
5. Surprises were everywhere! From the swings that were located throughout the city, to a sculpture of bottle caps in City Hall.
   

   Mayor Pro Tem Adcock found a swing

6. Quote that I loved – “Done beats perfect every time!”
7. Round Rock has some great marketing for their youth sports called “Game On” – with a marketing, branding and media campaign that has caught the attention of teams across the country.
8. Technology is in use all over Austin – from QR codes on coasters, to streaming a city meeting, twitter feeds and blogs. It was great to see technology all over the place.
9. ImagineAustin is a great model for what will will need to do for our new Comprehensive Planning process.  Maybe we can call it “CreateCary!”  
10. Public private partnerships can really accelerate all types of activities – whether transit, development or sustainability.

 Glad to be Home

It’s always nice to travel to see new places.  But, as Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz – there’s no place like home.

–Featured picture by Knowsphotos