The girls.

For the better part of my adult life I have been on a quest for the perfect lipstick. I've tried every red from the $6 Revlon classic Cherries in the Snow to the $28 Channel Red Dream. I found beautiful shades of red... that left prints on my straw, caused my lips to dry and flake, left red stains on the cheeks of my loved ones, or whose smell did not equal the beauty of its color. So I kept looking. For 15 years. Through hundreds of lipsticks. Now, I've found it. The perfect lipstick. If they discontinue it, I'll have to wage a bring-it-back campaign—right after I run to every store and buy all they have. I'll be the woman on the web scouring the earth for every last tube of Maybelline's new mineral lipstick in #400 Ruby.

I hesitated to share this holy grail of lipsticks with you because you may just decide to adopt it as your own. This is good in that maybe Maybelline will keep making it, but it's oh so bad if you love it as much a I do and they decides to move on to new formulas. You will get to reap the fruit, or I guess gem as the case may be, of my labor, but promise me now that my reward will be that you send me prized tubes if it is discontinued.

Just in case, I have a backup. It's the runner-up because it has a little sparkle to it, so doesn't have quite the natural look I like, but in a pinch, Aveda Flower Fusion Amaryllis will do. The one thing it really has going for it is that it smells so yummy. It's a great after lunch lipstick.

Now ya know.

And speaking of girlyness. Ainsley went out to dinner last night in her full-on Fancy Nancy persona. Still wearing her pink rhinestone leotard, pink tights, pink ballet shoes, and zebra tutu from dance class, she added a sparkling green tiara, her ballet shoes necklace, and her black purse to round out the ensemble for the "extraordinarily fancy restaurant" we were going to. (The neighborhood Mexican food dive.) That girl provides lots of laughs at this house. At dinner we were laughing about how funny her hand gestures and facial expressions are. She pursed her lips, raised her hands palm up in front of her chest and said, "I just like being fancy and dramatic." Actually she said, "I just like being fancy and ramatic." I just want to spend my day hanging out with her, hugging her, smelling her hair, and laughing at her pure Ainsleyness.

When we went to pick her up from school earlier this week one of her past teachers, Laura Lee, stopped to give her a hug goodbye. Laura Lee said, "She is a very special girl. She cares about everyone. I've never seen a child like her before. Really. It all comes straight from her heart." She went on to tell us stories about how Ainsley takes care of everyone on the playground and lets the teachers know when someone is upset or doing something that could hurt them. Laura Lee wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know, so it didn't really sink in when I heard it. But when thinking about it later, I realized that Ainsley does have an amazing capacity to care for and protect others. It's a gift all wraped up in this package of love and fire; a big heart, a loud voice, and an opinion that wants to be heard. This complicated little girl that already shows flashes of a mature woman. A woman with lots of love to give and a true appreciation for the perfect lipstick!

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