Gimme a Head with Hair, Long Beautiful Hair

This past weekend I had an appointment at my favorite salon to get my hair color back to it's natural state. After getting some highlights put in here and there in the months leading up to our wedding, I was getting a little too blonde. I'm rather pale (the Irish side of me) and can't pull off the light haired look too well. Here is a pic of my friend Lindsay and I from my bachelorette party just before the wedding (I'm on the right- don't mind the red eyes).

The color was nice here, but I got my roots touched up a few time and ended up a little too light for me. I walked into the salon with some pictures in hand and was ready for my transformation. I wanted to go a little darker than natural, but nothing too drastic. My stylist was hesitant to dye my hair darker, because she's gotten use to the lighthaired me. She was intent on giving me something a little lighter. About an hour later, I came out like this:

Image from Good Housekeeping

Um, wow! Hello, Red! The auburn look is gorgeous on Juliann Moore, but I was in shock! I think she must see more red in my hair than I feel I actually have. I tried to keep calm and even told her she didn't have to style my hair because I just wanted to leave, go home and cry my eyes out. She wanted to straighten my naturally curly hair so I could really see the color, and it was a bit torturous to have to look in the mirror. I was going for something a little more like these two. Rachel's a little too red here but you get the idea (not sure where I found her pic).
My hair is really a brown color with some faint hints of red when the sun shines on it. A little more like this.

Image from Good Housekeeping

To a stranger it doesn't look so bad, and no offense to my red headed family members or readers, but I don't think it suits me. To me the dye looks pinkish where the highlighted strands used to be. I had prepared myself for the Elizabeth Hurley-esque shade and came out ginger-haired. Red dyes fade quickly so I tried my best with some hot olive oil treatments and multiple applications of good ole' classic Prell shampoo, but no dice. I've been wearing my hair back all week, because I get upset when I see it in the mirror. I've even had to rethink some wardrobe choices because I thought the red hair looked kinda funny with some of the colored tops I have.

Now I have to do the walk of shame into the salon tomorrow to have it fixed because I don't think I can stand it. I always feel so bad having to tell a stylist that a cut or color didn't turn out how I'd hoped. Anyone else ever feel that way?

Sigh. The battle for great hair- will it ever end? I know there are more important things in the world to worry about and that this is totally a trivial problem to have, (my thoughts are on the people of Haiti!) but it's on my mind and so I am writing about it.

Have any of you had any salon blunders?