HELP!!

hi my name is Cherie and I need help with my hair! For Thanksgiving holiday I wanted to get my hair cut bc im seeing family that I haven't seen in awhile. My mistake was believing someone who said that they had cut curly hair before which was obviously a lie once I stood up out of the chair! To describe my hair so you readers can feel my pain, it is naturally curly and thick and not the soft curls no no. It is cut right in the middle of of ear and shoulder (like and inch shorter than I wanted!) and has layers in it! It gets poofy and its cut the same length all the way around. Now i don't know what to do with it! How to fix it besides just leaving it down, which gets boring when its a style i dont like!! So Im writing this hoping to get feedback from someone who can offer up ideas and things i can do besides pull it back!