Life List: Have Dark Hair...check!

I was born with dark blonde hair.  I remained a dark blonde until I was probably 3, and then the transformation to a brunette began.  I consider this difficult transition time the dark ages of my life... 

When I was 17 years old I was spending a typical high school evening at my good friend Kelly's with our gal pal Katie; giggling over boys, eating Nonna cooking, watching bad TV, eating Nonna cooking, gossiping, eating Nonna cooking.  You know, the usual.  In one of those very "we're-bored-and-have-car keys" teenage moments it suddenly popped in my head that we should go to the local CVS (where I once was bullied into buying condoms for a friend who was too chicken to do it for herself. But I digress.) and buy hair dye.  The era of Tricia blonde-hood thus began.  The era has been good to me.

I remember cracking up during the entire dying process, which looked pretty similar to the Clueless scene where Cher is washing the Kool-Aid red out of Ty's hair in the bathtub; the chemicals were burning my eyes and throat, my shirt got all wet, Kelly was forcefully holding my head under the faucet while yelling at me to stop wiggling...a happy memory indeed.

I was admittedly a little nervous to go home that night.  But by mom, surprisingly, didn't give a crap that I'd colored my hair.  "As long as you don't have piercings or tattoos, you can be a purple head for all I care."  For the next 8 years I continued to torture my locks with bottle dyes, professional highlights, and lemon juice summers.  After a quick calculation I recently realized that I've literally spent a few thousand dollars on being a blonde.  Several. Thousand. Dollars.  So ridiculous!! Considering the budget I've put myself on, I came to the conclusion it was time for a change.  I'm living in a new city, trying on a new version of me.  A drastic hair color change may be a bit cliche and superficial, but it also feels slightly symbolic.  When I told Zach about my plans I said "It's gonna be weird for you! You don't know me as a brunette!" to which he replied "No, *you* don't know you as a brunette...".  A simple yet very good point.  

Several deep breaths, 2 hours, $65 and a few tears of shock in the car, I went from this....

to this....

In general, I like the change.  It's still kinda weird to look in the mirror, but just thinking of all the money I'll be saving makes me giddy.  Confession: I'm hoping to go out-out with girlfriends soon to test whether or not blondes really do have more fun and whether my old theories that boys didn't look at me until I was blonde were actually true. 

I'm looking forward to getting to know myself as a brunette :)

-trish