February Dare Count

Well, I don't even want to look at the numbers. I'm not as far as I'd like to be... which includes getting dares back. If you are hesitating putting in the mail, go ahead and do it. I want to pack my year full of daring events.

Instead of a count, I am going to try reflection. Since the inception of this, every day has been a surprise.  

Some days I am delighted to be single again. Dinner is whatever I choose; the weekends are full of my activities and if something isn't right, I can change it, because I am responsible for it. Those are the days that everythings seems a little sunnier and a little less important. 

But, some days, not so much. Despite the growing distance, I can still find myself getting all worked up about some trivial matter like how the laundry smelled like fish (he worked in seafood, I know it made sense that the laundry smelled like that) or being angry at myself for letting it become a broken relationship.

Regardless of how I have decided to interpret any given day, I'm happy I am where I am. The dares have helped me break out a little. It is easy for me to blame something expected or new on, "oh yeah, my friend dared me to do it", but I've also internalized it. If this is to be my most daring year yet, it isn't going to happen without creating my own private dares or public bonus dares. I can accomplish those every day. Thanks for all y'all's support (and yes, my Wisconsin friends, I said "all y'all's")

Get highlights in your hair (Brett Parker)

The motivation behind the dare was for me to embrace something bold and to experiment with my appearance a little, so why not?

I can say I've gotten complacent with my "look" - brown hair, pony tail, flat iron, sometimes curly, recycle, repeat, messy bun thing. For those of you that remember the bleached out pink or blue streaks of 2002, as foxy as those were, my job these days is not as accommodating to that color choice. Here is my BEFORE:

Do blondes really have more fun? Is this my chance to find out?

It seems I won't find out yet. I arrived at the salon a mess. Still wearing my hiking boots from the trip to the Fells that morning, I hadn't even thought about how to express my hair color desires. I believe I contradicted myself five times in trying to describe how light I was willing to go. The colorist sensed some underlying hesitation to embracing the bold change I want and I know would thrill Brett. So I believe I have completed Step One to ease myself into drastic hair change. I never said a dare had to be finished all at once, right. Here is my AFTER for now:

It's slightly lighter, but still  very predictably brown. Stay tuned, people. Change is on its way, but it moves slowly.

So on my journey to make my inner blonde an outer blonde...

Laura Brelsford snapped this photo of me on the left after my hair appointment in March . On the right is a photo from August. I am keeping up with the lighter hair, but I'm not going to be a blonde.  I'm pretty happy with what I got so I think I'll work it.