I am a total Cali girl through and through. One of these days, I will have to take you all through a tour of my extensive wardrobe of short little skirts and cute dresses. I will wear them out even in the middle of a typical Vancouver downpour or a blinding snowstorm.

Totally impractical, I know…. But hey….. I will only live once… and if I freeze to death, at least I know I did it in style with a lot of leg showin’

I am especially partial to a few fashion staples *yes, I am one of those girls that If I can wear it everyday until someone complains I smell, I will* like my jean skirts and a blue paisley sundress.

Guardian Unlimited, a UK newspaper, has reported that the mayor of Varallo Sesia, a small picturesque town in Italy, is offering cash incentives for its residents to shape up.

It seems that “stress”, “eating too fast” and the love for “junk food” has increased obesity in Italy by 9%, and with this bold move announced over the weekend, the response has been overwhelming. Residents armed with a doctor’s certificate stating they are overweight were lined up at city hall waiting to be weighed by the town’s appointed chemist in order to get into the program.

“Dieting needs strong motivation, and I am trying to muster some collective will here,” says Mayor Gianluca Buonanno, who is also planning on losing 6kg.

There are weight loss camps for tweens and teens. There are summer camps that parents attend with their children. Now there’s a weight control camp for families.

Wellspring Family Camp in the upper peninsula of Michigan is the first and only program that parents or grandparents can attend with an overweight child (or children). It is the only weight control camp for children as young as five. This summer marks Wellspring Family Camp’s second year. However, the staff plans very few changes because the first year was so successful, according to Rachel Yudin, camp director. The only major change are new one-week sessions for families who cannot participate in the two-week sessions.