My nephew, Jones.

Just Hearts Holiday Boutique

Train Station pays off

OcToBeR eNdS

For your enjoyment, I've come full circle.

The stars I stare at have been there since I was 9. Or 10. Either one.

The stars haven't moved.

They fade as time goes, and light up again when I can't sleep. They've always made the same patterns.

They haven't faded.

Not a bit.

They are bright for a few seconds and disappear, fade into the night. They decide when it's really time for bed.

Weekend in Rio

We had a fun weekend in Rio. Tio Alister, Tia Rosa, and Duda were nice enough to drive us all the way up there. It took us about 6 hours and we arrived Friday night. We got up early Saturday and hit up the city. I think Rio is my favorite part of the trip thus far. It's an incredible city, dangerous, but great. The favellas are 100 feet above the city. Very close. My uncle said he saw a boy with a gun eye my camera. I'm not sure which is scarier, that someone wanted my camera, or that it was a boy who had the gun. On the way back to Sao Jose on Sunday, we drove by miles and miles of favellas. It was incredibly sad. Both Duni and I think it's the poorest areas we've seen in our lives. I've talked to a few of my aunts and my grandma about the poor areas, and they have all given me the same response, "Oh well, what can you do?" I'd like to think there is something we can do. Love. Pray. Hope. It's good to be realistic, but if we were all like that, if we all just said, "What can you do?" I don't think change would ever happen.