As Christmas Day approaches, I am more determined than ever to start my New Year on December 26th. I need to seriously commit to losing weight before my mid-January surgery, and I need to shed my old eating habits. This is difficult this week because I am so broke that I decided that the only gifts I could give were cookies that I made. But, since I haven't baked in a very long time, I just simply had to sample one from each batch to ensure quality control. And since I have no self control I now must make my way back to the grocery store for more cookie fixings. Can't blame this one on the Cookie Monster!
I did take a day off last week for an appointment with my hair stylist because my roots were showing up more than my highlights! I was very naturally blonde until around twenty or so, and my hair has gotten darker every year since. I started highlighting by the time I turned thirty, and have been a proud blonde ever since. Of course, since I turn sixty tomorrow, I still consider the blonde streaks as keeping me light headed instead of hiding my gray hair. But I digress...
This time I decided that in addition to a new cut, I also needed a little perking up for the new me. I decided to put a little golden-red streaks in with the other highlights. Except when it came out, for some reason my hair turned more pink than either blonde or red. I may be turning sixty but I am sooo not ready for pink curls! So, in order to fix the pink we put on a more auburn rinse, but we kept needing more and more until suddenly there was no blonde left. Therefore, the new me is now a coppery redhead!
With a new hair color comes some unforseen problems that only us girls will understand. You guys simply don't care. But we girls buy clothes and makeup to match our colors. Since I had been a blonde for thirty years, I was not prepared for how much my red Christmas shirts clashed with my hair! And we won't even talk about the lipstick shades. And anything I buy now will be too big for me in a few months.
I went for a job interview today. My bed is full of discarded tops that simply didn't go with the new me/do. The school that I last taught at had purple and gold as their spirit colors, so my closet is full of purple "things." And no offense all you true "red hatters" but purple and red combos do absolutely nothing for me.
I finally found something I could wear but then realized that I needed to find a different shade of lip gloss. Thank heavens I didn't succumb to my thinking that I should throw out all those old tubes of Avon! New eyeshadow color is now on my grocery list, right next to the sugar cookie mix.
My friends have had mixed emotions. Some love it, some hate it, and still a few others state that it doesn't matter. And it occurred to me that Mr. Spock was right. A difference that makes no difference IS no difference. New hair didn't make me a different person. And neither will lap-band make me different. What will be different is the (mis)perceptions that I have as to how people will view me. But I am now beginning to realize that this is MY problem, not theirs. The family and friends that matter the most will love me no matter what I look like, and they realize I am doing this not to change my looks but to improve my health.
Of course, it has taken quite a few cookies to realize that.
Oh well, the grocery store is just over the bridge!
Merry Christmas, everybody!
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