Considering how much planning went into my outfit/costume for this years Zombie Walk, I thought I’d do a “What I Wore” post.

As soon as I saw this dress I knew I had to have it for the walk. I mean really, zombie unicorns? Hello? Could it suit me ANY more? Oh yes, it could, because it’s PINK and BLACK! My only fault with it, is that it’s a bit too short. But I hav a very long torso and a lot of these styles of dresses sit to short on me as a result. So leggings were a definite, because I did not need to have any wiley protographers snapping any undies shots of me as I’m setting up the park.

My next decision was around the shoes. I had plans to buy the Iron Fist pink Gold Digger zombie flats but I didn’t have the time/cash to get them and I feared they’d get wrecked on a hectic 14 hour day with all my running around and climbing in gardens and later getting my drink on at the after party. So I got some cheapies that I did plan to decorate with black stitches but just plain ran out of time.

For my headwear I was going to buy this brain patch headband but my ever creative mum said she’d made her own version, but 3D! She whipped this up with Crayola molding foam with a red felt base. The blood drops were also made of the foam and then painted with red nail polish to make it shiney. She attached it to a headband which already had a fascinator base and voila, I had some adorable, exposed brains!

For my makeup, I wanted to keep it simple, cute and bloodless. I am so over blood and gore when it comes to zombies, let me tell you. I was given the tip recently that the coloured hair spray you use to make your hair “crazy” colours also works well on skin so I hunted everywhere for a can of white and then also bought a green and silver can for cheap. The white is used as a base and then green sprayed over top to give me a green tinge. I ran out of green on the legs so we used silver instead which nobody could really see anyway. But my poor face was now uncoloured! It took a lot of trickery and creative blending, but by using a pale foundation and then dusting a combination of green eyeshadows, then dabbing some white ae paint on to tone the green down, I managed to match my face to my body fairly well.

I used black and grey eyeshadows around my eyes, added eyeliner for definition and lots of mascara (I’ll be damned if I’m going to be an ugly zombie).  I dusted some dark grey eyeshadow on my cheeks like blush to make my face a little bit gaunt and then drew on the scars wirth an old black eyeliner. The black lipstick finished the look and I was done!

Dress: Hell Bunny Zombie Unicorn petal dress from Sourpuss
Leggings: Body Control ones from Avon
Shoes: Basic pink slip-on’s from Rubi
Fascinator: Made by my mum :)
Eyeshadow: Various blacks and greys by BYS
Lipstick: Black by Shu Uemera

Well it’s finally over. the 2011 Brisbane Zombie Walk is now behind me. And I’ve just posted the Post Walk Statement on the site which means I am finally free to discuss the events of the day here! Hurra!

Our day started pretty well, I somehow managed to get an awesome night sleep which was an total shock. I got up at about 7am and checked the zombie walk email, updated the blog and finished tidying up the house for everyone who was going to come over to get ready. By 9am everyone had arrived and were getting ready in every corner of our unit. I had a grand plan of painting myself a nice, light green with hair colour spray which had worked really well for the cover of mX but failed on me by running out 3/4 of the way through painting myself! Luckily a bit of clever makeup blending skills and I managed to make my face almost the same shade of green as the rest of my body. I went for a cute green zombie with black accents (ie. black cartoony scars, black around my eyes and black lips) to go with my adorable pink Zombie Unicorn dress. Oh and the adorable little Brain fascinator that my mum made me :)

The first incident of the day happened at about 9.30am when Anthony, who was the leader of the set up team, got stuck in our ancient lift. He’d disregarded a warning from another helper who said they’d been stuck in the lift for a good 5 minutes and found himself trapped on our level, with doors that simply refused to open. A bit of panic set in then, so I had to finish up my personal preparations and rush to Wickham Park to start setting up. This set us back a bit and one of our sponsors was already there which got me into panic mode good and proper.

Fortunately things went fairly smoothly, and we had a lot of friends helping out, as well as a number of volunteers so while we ran behind schedule most of the day, it as definitely not as bad as it could have been. Lift Boy was released after being stuck for a good 90 minutes and we got back on track. The fencing we had put up to minimise entry points into the park worked a charm with regards to getting people to donate a gold coin on entry. Sure, some cheapskates jumped them to avoid paying, but most people were quite generous. Well except for the tourists who threw in 5c pieces but I will talk about them more later.

By 2.30pm the park was absolutely packed, and because people sort of hung around the two entry points it was proving very hard for everyone to get in, and thousands were pouring in by this point. The plan was to have our speeches at 2.30pm but we held them off because some of our speakers went missing! During the speeches (which unfortunately weren’t hear by 90% of the people in the park, something we will have to rectify next year) we did the 10 minute countdown required for our Guinness World Record attempt. We had Sarah as the MC as she’s an excellent public speaker (and I am a stuttery, nervous wreck in front of big crowds), Gerald from the Brain Foundation, Erin Snape who raised over $6000 for the Brain Foundation and an officer for the QLD Police to remind everyone of the rules of the walk.

At 3pm I rushed down to the front exit point to get ready to lead the crowd on the walk, and was shocked to see THOUSANDS of people trying to get in still. We gave them another 10 minutes before deciding it was useless, and had to run out of the park and down the road for a good 200 metres before we’d passed everyone. Naturally my megaphone, which I use to yell at people and get their attention with its obnoxious siren, ran out of battery then so we had to get the police to sound sirens to get everyone’s attention, and get them to start following us down Albert Street and into the City. It was hard work, we had to shout a lot for people to follow us because they were all sort of standing around, looking a bit confused. We then opened up another exit point and people just poured out of the park. In fact a lot of people left via the top entrance point and had to walk around the block to meet us. I just can’t believe how many people there were.

My sister and I then spent the next half an hour sprinting around the City between intersections making sure the police we OK and then sprinting most of the walk route to try and get back to the lead of the procession. I literally have not run so much in my life (thank god I go to the gym so much so I was fit enough to manage it). We also spent a great deal of time trying to get tourists off the road. They were seriously only leaving about a 3m gap for the zombies to walk down, like some sort of catwalk. I had to SCREAM at some of them to get off the road and had to give up when I got them back a couple of extra metres. It was infuriating, I know most of them probably didn’t speak English but my screaming “MOVE BACK” and all but pushing them backwards with my gestures surely must have made sense to them? That’s about when my voice started to give out. Once at the front of the procession we helped Cassie and the other volunteers keep everyone in line (though barely, bloody rowdy zombies). Thanks to the delay in taking off, we arrived at the end point close to 4pm which was perfect for our plans. We then had to try and get people moving on to the after party and I then spent the next two hours running between home and the venue trying to find various things that had been packed up in various vehicles. When I finally got to relax, the after party was really good and the bands excellent. It was also so cute to see kids in the all-ages room, many of which were doing the Melbourne Shuffle extremely well (others just rolling around on the floor and jumping off seats).

So in summary, we raised over $24,000 for the Brain Foundation and attracted between 15,000 and 20,000 people. We estimate about 12,000 of those were actually zombies, but holy hell that is some turnout!!! We made some huge improvements on last years walk but we still learned a lot and have lots of exciting ideas for next year and will undoubtedly only get better and better as we become absolute pro’s at it. I will keep you posted about when we get the Guinness World Record!

BAM! Guess who’s on the front page on mX newspaper today? Damn right that’s me and my bestie Sarah! We did this photo last week on a whim. I had to go and buy a whole bunch of zombie makeup that day as I was just too disorgansied to make the blood and stuff as I usually do. Not bad for a 45 min rush job, I gotta say!

The writing in the bubble says:

WALK OF THELIVING DEAD
Brisbane’s CBD will look like the set of Shaun of the Dead this Sunday when Sarah Keogh and Cara Westworth take part in the sixth annual Zombie Walk. Thousands of people in zombie costumes will start their journey from Wickham Park at 3pm until they finish at Centenary Place in Fortitude Valley. Brisbane’s Zombie Walk is the largest in the world and is held to raise money for the Brain Foundation of Australia. For more information, brisbanezombiewalk.com

And I believe we’ll be in City News tomorrow as well! What a week, I’m telling you now. But after a week of extreme stress (I lost a kilo from it this week alone) things are falling into place and the walk should be an amaing day. Don’t forget:

BRISBANE ZOMBIE WALK
WHEN: Sunday 23rd October, fun starts from 11am, walk leaves at 3pm
WHERE: Wickham Park, Brisbane City. Just follow Albert St up from the mall and we’re up on the right near Roma St Parklands
WHY: For fun, of course! And we also raise money for the Brain Foundation. So dig deep!

First of all, how cute are our shirts this year? I am super proud of the design and they look AMAZING in real life! I got a couple of singlets printed as I hate wearing t-shirts, but they’re just for the female organisers, not for the public. Hopefully next year! Want one? Buy them here!

The QLD Police launched a new site called QldAlert which will compile all of their social media for a handy one-stop shop when there’s an emergency or major event. And to test it out, they made it all about a zombie outbreak. Told ya’ll the QPS had our backs!

My favourite Brisbane artist Lauren Carney has made special shirts for the walk, and is giving us half the proceeds! I am so exited, especially since the bag she had with this design at the last markets I saw her at had sold out :( Yay for cute zombies!

And finally, check out the cutest engagement photoshoot ever! (Yes, it involves zombies)

Well Supanova 2011 is finally over and I am exhausted. If you thought attending for two days straight was exhausting, try having a stall there as well as going and getting your geek on. It was intense! We decided to get a booth for the Brisbane Zombie Walk, to help promote it and get some extra funds from donations and selling some merch. We got a lot of registrations and sold all our left over shirts from last years walk as well as the figurines and books we had from some of our sponsors. We’ve already started planning our stall for next year which may involve brain-icing cupcakes to draw in the crowds.

Things I observed over the last two days while surrounded by Brisbane’s biggest nerds:

• The girl in the stall next to us drew people as anime characters and was revoltingly good at it. She would have made thousands from her custom portraits on top of the pre-drawn pictures of manga and anime characters she was also selling. We are amused to see one man get her to draw his little doll which he had sitting on his shoulder as he walked around the convention. It was super weird and probably the highlight of the weekend for all who witnessed it.
• There is absolutely no such thing as body-shame at a convention like Supanova. Guys and girls were wearing some of the most revealing and skin-tight costumes I have ever seen and they walked around like they did not give a damn. Good on ‘em because god knows I’d have to lose about 20kg before I’d ever feel that confident without pants in public!
• Tiny top hats are pretty popular at the moment which is kind of cool but also makes me very jealous and possessive because I feel like it is my thing. There were some amazing ones there though and will have to start hunting them down to add to my collection.
• I was able to identify a lot more of the costumes than I thought I would. Maybe I spend too much time on the internet, or maybe I just have an excellent memory for useless crap. But at the same time there were just so many costumes I couldn’t identify at all so I just assumed they were all from anime’s I’ve never seen or heard of .
• People were cashing in on internet memes like Troll face, fffuuu guy and Forever Alone which was hilarious. One guy had a mask of Troll Face and pranced and danced around all the time. Too funny.
• Many nerds lack manners. The amount of times I was nearly knocked rotten by some pimply faced teen who was making for some stall was appalling. But then again, many of them are all super polite and in some cases extremely chatty. A couple of times I found myself in intense discussions about Lara Croft or dyslexia which was interesting albeit a little bit disconcerting.
• People actually recognised me and read my blog! I was shocked to say the least. I’m now going to have to up the ante knowing people who aren’t my friends read this thing. Thanks to those who came said hello, it was so nice to meet you :)

As a grande finale for the weekend, my sister and I went and got photos with Tom Felton (aka Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter films). Naturally I was excited because I’ve always had a soft spot for poor Draco and loved how Tom played the character. He was really, really lovely and such a good sport. Basically the scene played like this:

Tom: Hi there.
My Sister: *loud whisper* Show him your tattoo!
Me: Hi! Um, I want to show my tattoo off in our photo *suddenly very starstruck and giggly*
Tom: Oh my god, is that genuine? *strokes my Dark Mark gently*
Me: Yep! *dying on the inside*
Photographer takes a photo, Tom has his hand around me and points at my arm and I try to pout but am overwhelmed with giggles so don’t quite pull of the come-hither look I was aiming for.
Tom: Thanks, lovely.
Me: Thank you! *walks the wrong way, dying some more*

Click the pic for the larger version

All in all it was a great weekend, though I am officially not doing anything zombie-related all week lest I end up strangling someone! I am probably going to be all Tom Felton/Draco Malfoy obsessed instead :D

While this was the 3^rd time I’ve organised the walk, I learned a lot which will make the 2011 walk even better. We undertook so much this year, from corporate sponsorship, becoming a registered business to having our own merchandise and co-ordinating a whole heap of volunteers. All of which we undertook while still working 9 – 5 jobs! I’m amazed it didn’t send me mad as I thought I was going to wig out more than a few times, but it all worked out pretty well in the end, thankfully.

I don’t know why, but I decided to go as a Steampunk zombie this year. It’s not like I had enough of my plate without having an overly elaborate costume, right? But my mum worked her magic and produced the most fantastic costume in less than three weeks. The only downfall was that I had to cover half of it up with a hideous hi-vis marshal vest in order to be easily recognised by police and other participants, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I mightn’t be so elaborate next year since I almost died from heat stroke in all the leather and ended up having to do most of the walk backwards to stop people getting ahead of me (I don’t know what it is with people having to rush, it’s a zombie walk, slow down and be a zombie for crying out loud!) but I’m sure I’ll find something crazy to dress as again next year. (Umm and why, may I ask, do I always look my best when stressed out??? Seriously, it’s not fair!)

If you’re interested, you can check out the official Post Walk Statement for all the official info about the walk. Otherwise, you should check out all the photos at the Flickr pool that lots of amazing photographers took on the day (since I didn’t get t take any of my own photos, sadly).

Oh and if you’re thinking “Pfft there’s no way there were 10,000 participants this year”, let this awesome photo by Andrew Otten prove you wrong!

(Click for the larger version)

Last year we had a fundraiser gig which did really well except it was a huge stress to organise and although we made a fair bit of money, half it went straight back to cover the expenses of the night. So this time we used a venue that was hugely popular and didn’t need live bands to encourage people to come along. Instead we were able to get some really awesome prizes to give away in a raffle (including a TV, xbox, lots of video games, movie tickets and merchandise and heaps of other cool stuff). As the Mana Bar is a small venue that only fits 60 people at a time, it was a small and intimate affair but we made a lot of money, met some really cool people and saw some fantastic zombie costumes! Some of which won their owners prizes!

Anthony and I at the start of the evening

We also got to meet and greet a few of the people who helped us out with fundraising, including Sally from the Sun State Roller Girls. Plus we also got to meet some avid zoombie walk fans, which is really cool because we’re usually so busy trying to make sure the day goes well that we can’t meet anyone on the day.

Sarah and I running the raffle

The winner of the night – the Deathtrooper

And on a final note, we received the official t-shirts and wrist bands on the day of the party which we got to show off to everyone! Fingers crossed we can sell them all because damn they’re mighty fine lookin’ and I’d hate for any of them to go to waste!

All of the Zombie Walk fundraiser photos were taken by the Mana Bar and can be found here.

Time for an update on the Brisbane Zombie Walk! As expected it’s totally taking over my life as we really get into the swing of  things and everything’s going well so far. Thank god! The above poster was the first the mock up I did which I actually really, really love so will now be the actual poster. I haven’t lost my touch when it comes to design after all, it seems. The photo is from the walk in 2008 (the first one I organised) and was taken by my friend Terry (check out his site Soul Bridge Media, he’s such an awesome photographer!).

The biggest news though, is that we’ve finally launched the new website which allows people to register (which will help us gauge how many participants to anticipate this year) as well as make donations! This is a pretty big deal because it allows people to be a bit more interactive with us and the site and we’re gaining valuable information by knowing how many people use the site on top of getting a good idea of the expected turnout this year. Plus we’re already getting heaps of donations which means we’ll be able to cover the costs of the walk without resorting to dipping into our own pockets so much. It’s also means we can donate more of the money we raise to the Brain Foundation! Win win!

Check out the new website!

Right now I am trying to come up with a design for the Official t-shirts which is proving a bit tougher than the poster as I need to use minimal colours and make sure it appeals to everyone. I’ll post my designs and idea as they come along. Then there’s the fundraiser gig Rott n Roll. I’m currently getting people to help me find local bands willing to play for free but will also draw a crowd. Oh and the after party – lots of work there too. We’re goin to have to start recruiting volunteers soon!

Anyway, as the walk looms ever closer I’m going to get busier and busier so please don’t think I am neglecting my blog out of laziness! Hopefully as everything slots into place I will have more time to post more substantial updates!

OMG look who is dressed corporate! That’s right, me! After getting so many excellent comments on my last post, I figured I’d suck it up and get some good corporate pieces to start myself off and see how I went. Even more shocking, I got both the short and skirt at Cue! On Friday after work while killing time before an appointment I accidentally discovered they were having a sale and found this gorgeous pencil skirt and shirt or over half price. Of course, being the spend thrift I usually am, this was still pretty pricey for what I’d planned to spend but damn they’re so nice! The skirt is lovely and fits so well and doesn’t give me the dreaded fat-office-chair-arse! It has a cute ruffle at the back but I’m afraid I am not yet brave enough to go posting pictures of my butt on the internet (sorry guys!). This picture doesn’t do the outfit justice as I was tired after a long Monday at work, plus I have a cold and am pretty run down. But I got lots of positive comments at work, my team leader was so delighted when she saw me walk into work! So it was definitely worth it. Now to brave the dreaded work pants which I also managed to buy this weekend (though as it turns out I’ve gone down a pants size so I was actually kind of excited about the pants in the end).

As I mentioned, I have gone and gotten myself another cold. I was still suffering from the one I got months ago and then BAM along comes another one! The fact I forget to wear jackets all the time probably played a significant part in this so I have no one to blame but myself. As such I spent the weekend at my mum’s place to chill out and avoid the temptation of going out (which was hard as a close friend was having a farewell do on Saturday night). As such I learned a new skill: SEWING! Yep, I’ve moved on from scrapbooking to sewing! I’ve always wanted my own sewing machine so I can remodel all my old, daggy clothes and I have sewn one or two minor things in my life, but this weekend I spent an afternoon learning how to sew a jungle-themed cushion! Oh yes! It’s not yet finished but I was pretty proud of my efforts and may well show off the finished product whenever I get around to it! And to prove it really happened:

AMAZING!

We are getting right into the organisation of the Brisbane Zombie Walk for 2010. Right now we are looking or sponsors to help us make sure the walk actually happens! We’re getting together business proposals and all sorts of crazy stuff I never thought I’d find myself doing in the name of zombies! So far the walk is set to take place on Sunday 24th October, though there is a slim chance that could change. I’ve just designed a logo for the walk (sneak peak here) and am now going to start redesigning the website which is very daunting but also pretty exciting. We’ll soon have the option where people can register, and for those extra nice people, donate money at the same time.
We’re actually looking for volunteers for helping out with this years walk, if you or someone you know is interested PLEASE let me know by emailing zombie@brisbanezombiewalk.com as we need all the help we can get!

I am busy to say the very least! People don’t really get how much work goes behind the Brisbane Zombie Walk so when I say tell them “Sorry, I’m too busy this week, I have zombie walk stuff to deal with” they seem to think I am just copping out. Honestly, this is  a BIG deal and it’s taking up a huge amount of my time. It’s not just a case of saying “This is where and when it starts and finishes” and then just turning up and having fun. There is so much to deal with, from organising the permits to have the walk happen at all, getting Public Liability Insurance (god this was a huge deal), getting advertising, getting donations for the Brain Foundation (our chosen charity), dealing with our local city council, getting the after-party sorted, advertising, dealing with dozens of emails everyday, doing interviews for various media outlets etc etc. Meanwhile we hadn’t even thought about our costumes for the walk, which we’ve only just managed to finalise now (a few days before the walk, which is obviously nerve-wrecking).

The walk is this Sunday so if you’re in or from near Brisbane PLEASE come along because a lot of my blood, sweat and tears have gone into the walk this year and I want it to be a HUGE success. Besides, what else could be happening in Brisbane on a Sunday worth checking out over the Brisbane Zombie Walk???