My baby brother is so cool. He remembered that I kept talking about wanting a gold plumeria bracelet. He's been saying since May that he was going to buy me one, and he finally sent it and I picked it up today. I found a picture on the Net that sort of looks like the bracelet he sent me.

My bracelet has 10 plumeria blossoms on it and my brother says he bought it from Hallmark Jewelers at Ala Moana. The back of it says it's 14k gold and when I asked my brother if it was expensive, he said it was mid-range. The gold is not sanded but very smooth.

I've been researching prices for these kinds of bracelets and he must have at least spent over $300 on it. I love my bracelet! I feel so hawaiian wearing it. I've been wanting one of these bracelets for years, but it seemed like such an extravagant thing to do. I mean I do love jewelry and I love buying pieces for myself, but it's still a big deal for me to spend more than $200 on a piece. Buying a 14k gold plumeria bracelet has always been one of those items I told myself I would buy when I got a big chunk of money, but it was a "someday I might buy it" kind of item.

So I have it now, and I'm like so happy and excited. My brother told me when we were together in LA in June that I was now his favourite sister, because I was the only one he didn't have to worry or financially take care of. He is so funny; like I would ever expect him to do that.

First of all, he's my half brother and I never had any expectations that he would take care of me. My brother inherited money from his dad's family, include several pieces of property on the island of Oahu, because he was the only male grandchild. Along with money and land, my brother also inherited several museum quality chinese antiques. But my brother is also a workaholic who's been working since he got out of high school, including a stint as a male model. So it's not like he's just been lazing around and spending his inheritance. He even dabbled in stocks for awhile and made a small fortune doing call and put options. He went to college and trained to be a real estate appraiser and finally decided four years ago to open up his own business.

The guy like works all the time. When I stayed at his house last January, he was getting up and starting work at 6:3o am and keep working till around 8 pm. Even when we were in LA in June, he was checking the boards for appraisal jobs. He's on like some list for a large bank where he's the one they call first. God, I wish I had his energy!

My brother is very generous but he's also very frugal. He likes to spend money on the things he thinks are important and then totally be tight-fisted about everything else. It used to annoy the heck out of me, because he would harass me for buying $100 silk Tommy Bahama shirts, but my brother says if things go right financially he'll be able to retire in a few years. I wish I had his bank accounts and his frugal spending ways.

I was out having drinks with friends at Faz on Steuart Street, and as we were walking past Boulevard Restaurant I saw this woman who looked so familiar. I knew she wasn't anyone I knew, but then it dawned on me that it was Famke Janssen from X-Men. She was coming out of Boulevard with some guy. Her featuress were exotic and so beautiful and she was Hollywood thin, but she didn't look as good in person as she did in the movie. She actually looked a little tired. She was wearing one of those long sweaters in a beigish colour, jeans that were rolled up and gorgeous high heeled black leather boots.

Her and her man were walking up Mission Street to probably Hotel Vitale. I normally never ever recognize famous people, but her face was so distinctive. I told one of my friends about her and when she looked at her, she agreed with me that it was Famke. What a hoot! She actually looked quite distinctive even for San Francisco, which is saying alot.

I went to the Feast of Lanterns the weekend I was in Monterey in July. My friend who we were visiting took this picture and sent it to me.

I'm watching VH1's "The Fabulous Life presents High Priced Hollywood Hotness". The announcer says that the average celebrities exercise 3 hours a day. That's a lot. I remember when I was at the spa in Utah I worked out four hours a day with a two hour morning hike from 6 am to 8 am and then a two hour aerobics class. I lost 2o inches after one week. I was also on a strict vegan diet and even went to vegan cooking classes.

Looking good isn't cheap either. Now that I'm older it seems to be all about maintenance on a regular basis. I was never that good about keeping my brows plucked and waxed, but I now have an appointment every three weeks to have someone do it. I've gotten facials, but it's never been a priority, but now I am getting them every three months.

People keep telling about an article in the New York Times that came out a few weeks ago about the amount of money some women spend to look good, and they're not even Hollywood stars. I'm thinking to myself, is this why I'm not measuring up? Because I'm not spending enoug money.

One expense that is so worth it is a personal trainer at the gym. I did it for a year once and I loved it, but it does add up financially. One of these days, I'll go back to getting a trainer. I had a great trainer who was a body builder in the army. He was tough, maybe too tough. He trained me so hard on weights that I would often get colds because I was overtraining.

I think it's true whta the announcer is saying. The first thing anyone does when they receive lots of money is to spend it on getting their body flaws fixed. Whether it's getting a bigger rack, a better nose, a smaller tummy, a tighter face, or whiter teeth.

Speaking of teeth, a friend of mine constantly raves about getting her teeth whitened. She does it all the time. I asked my dentist about it and he told he could do it but if I wanted to do it myself, Crest Premium White Strips work just well. The only advantage to whitening your teeth at the dentist's office is it can be done in one or two apointments. But my dentist told me it's addictive and that once you get it done, you want to keep doing it. He said most people have it have it done every two years. I'm trying the Crest Whitestrips that I bought at Walgreens, but I'm not regular about using them. Once I run out of strips, I'm going to the premium variety. I think the white strips do work, but I have a hard time keeping the bottom ones on. My teeth aren't super white, but I think the strips have lightened them a little.

The show had a whole section on detox diets. I love the master cleanse and did my first one when I was 23 years old. I used to do the cleanse all the time, but it's been a few years since I've done one. I read the master cleanse is like ammonia for the body so it's harsh. I used to be able to do for two weeks at a time, but I can only take it for three days now. If you're going to do the master cleanse, make sure you get organic lemons, grade b or c maple syrup, and cayenne pepper in liquid form if you can find it. Don't forget to also take a natural laxative like Swiss Kriss. A salt water cleanse during the master cleanse also works well. With the salt water cleanse, you need to drink two quarts of water with two tablespoons of natural sea salt. You drink the mixture all down, then an hour or two later, you should be prepared to sit on the toilet, because the salt will take all the food out of your system. Sounds disgusting, but it works great.

Oh well, gotta go. My second favourite show on tv is now playing "Burn Notice". My favourite show is "The Closer". Monday night's show was great. Kyra's boyfriend on the show gave her an engagement ring from Tiffany's. I want my future husband to present me with a Tiffany's engagement ring. That would be like my most ultimate engagement fantasy! Location and circumstances don't matter, just break out that little blue box.