so i did it.

i finally got tired enough of the unseasonably high temperatures and decided to usher in fall (despite what the weather man says) with the quintessential change of hair color to match the darker months of the year.

i'll be honest. i've had a dreadful attitude for the past few months (some would argue it has been a bit closer to 25 years, but in the interest of time and for the sake of this conversation, let's keep it at a few months). i've complained, almost daily, that fall has yet to come to southern california. my poor boyfriend has the unfortunate task of trying to find every street in l.a. that may actually have trees on it that have turned any shade of orange, red or yellow just to keep me from whining. he even took me to a pumpkin patch the day after halloween and consoled me when i started crying after finding out it had already been shut down (yes. it has gotten that bad. i cried like a 6 year old - no offense to those of you with children who are more emotionally intelligent than i - when i found out that my only hope for discovering remnants of fall was closed with a giant padlock).

it's ok for you to lose respect for me at this point. but for those of you who are from a part of this country where fall brings colors that you can not even describe and air that is so crisp you can't seem to breathe enough ... you may be able to empathize.

fall is an excuse. well, at the very least, it's my excuse. an excuse to change ... to embrace something new. an excuse to buy a new shirt or get a new hairdo or spend more time outside with ymy favorite hot beverage and simply relish in the beauty that surrounds me.

it's my favorite season. but i had to sacrifice it in order to live in the center of the life i have now. which, in the big scheme of things, doesn't seem all that traumatizing.

so instead of moping around and waiting for everything else to change so that i feel i have permission to do the same ... i decided to pay a whopping $11.43 for my auburn hair color and move on with my life ...

to be continued