But I've opened it now!

Thanks, Sweetie!

So good to hear good news from Cashmere!

It's good to "see" you here Cashmere. Much stay-put~ma to the little one.

Please don't be letting me get the flu that is going around. I was just out doing some Christmas errands, and I suddenly felt like I was going to pass out. Good thing I was with Mom and didn't have to drive home.

I was just out doing some Christmas errands, and I suddenly felt like I was going to pass out.

The same thing happened to me this afternoon, but I'm pretty sure it's because there were way too many humans shopping in a small space. Note to self: Buy everything online next year.

It didn't feel like the too much humans things, but I could just be over-reacting because my stepfather has been really sick all week.

This is a picture from the annual Brown/Radcliffe Women's Rugby Prom Dress Game.

Hee. I'll betcha a lot of the women at that game would never normally wear a dress...fun!

If I do a semi-perm (darker) on my hair and don't like it, are there any non damaging ways to fade it a bit?

I was just wondering this myself--the last time I dyed my hair, it was a bit more golden red than I'd expected (it was supposed to be light brown). So the roots were getting a little crazy, and I just dyed it brown yesterday, and it's a bit darker than I'd like (apparently, light brown is "golden red" and medium brown is "dark brown". Oy).

With semi perm, I've had decent success with a good strong clarifying shampoo to lighten the darkness. With permanent, nsm. I definitely learned the Color Will Not Lighten Color rule the hard way. That was the first and last time I've ever had to strip the color out of my hair. Knock on wood.

Prell is supposed to be a good color-stripping shampoo. Just use a nice strong conditioner afterwards.

Oh good. I have some Zerran Moisture Pak which is an excellent conditioner I used to use when I trashed my hair chemically all of the time. Now I just have some cause I like the smell sometimes. It would be actually useful if I need to strip color.

I grabbed Clairol Natural Instincts in Nutmeg. I would have done Roasted Chestnut but they were out and I was all about the immediate gratification, even if I don't use it tonight.

L'Oreal's Color Spa is the other brand I use. They were low on color options too.

I'm only worried that if it looks at all ash, I look like ass with ash-y colors. They claim it's a neutral and on the warmish side. I am leery.

nutmeg doesn't look like it will go ashy -- most of the natural instinct colors I have tried are bright than the box, if that helps.