Going lighter/Blonde Frist time Color

Be careful of orangey tones. Whenever darker hair is lightened, it's likely to bring out the orange. I've heard an ash-blonde can help, but I've never used it before-- my hair was a weird kind of strawberry-blonde that I never bothered to correct. *shrugs*
And if you're nervous about the change, you could do highlights first to help transition into it.

I would find a picture of the hair color you want in a magazine and take that to your stylist, it is much easier than trying to describe it.

If you are going for a really natural look you should get highlights.
It is so difficult to know if a change is drastic or not without seeing someone, as everyone has such a different idea of what is light brown and what is dark blonde.
If the change is drastic, you shoukd go for an all over color that is a little bit darker than what you want and get lighter highlights on top of that (for a natural look). The color and highlights will cost more initially and to maintain, these are things to think about when changing your color. Going lighter and having highlights is not really something you will be able to touch up or do at home, so keep that in mind.
Best of luck, I hope that whatever you do, you LOVE IT!

Thanks you two, I'll post what I end up doing.

:) Lisa