I love costumes and love dressing up. But I don't have many opportunities to play dress up, so when I get the chance to do so, I'm all over it! Which is why I excitedly registered to be a zombie in the Roanoke Zombie 5K. Plus I can't run anymore. Or jog. Or even walk a 5K. But I could dress up and lumber after people (like my sister) and try to catch their flags (lives) as they ran the 5K. Plus it was for Special Olympics. I can never turn down Special Olympics (over $26,000 was raised..woop, woop!). I started planning my costume by searching for zombie costumes on Pinterest and was quickly remembered that zombies are actually pretty gross. I can't dress in a pretty pink dress with a fun tulle crinoline and be a zombie. I couldn't really plan on being a princessy zombie...that would look stupid. Or could I? Enter my second Colette Hawthorn. I already had a light bubble gum pink cotton in my stash that I could accent with white to make a waitress uniform. I bought some plastic brains and fingers to glue on a tray I took from our school cafeteria. And because my bubble gum pink was pretty sheer, I opted to wear my white crinoline underneath for a retro waitress look. I was going to be a pretty and not very bloody zombie. I did break down and did some gory cuts with lipstick and painted my nails a lovely shade of brain-eating dead. But otherwise I was a pretty  in pink zombie.

Although I have made a lovely skulls and crossbones version of this dress, and I used the exact same pattern, my darts ended up all wonky on this one.  The bodice of the dress kept creeping up so my bust darts look like they end at my neck.  I'm going to blame it on the crinoline pushing the dress up and not my slightly expanded waistline....

It's amazing what a little black eyeliner, red lipstick, and clear lip gloss can do.  I recreated one on my leg which Bailey promptly rubbed against.  She thankfully survived her zombie attack but she had a reddish mark for a few hours...

My creeptastic nails!  I had all of these nail colors on hand already.  I'm not really sure what that says about my choices in polishes.  Does it look like I just finished serving up a tasty meal of brains and finger fries?


You can kind of see my black eyes and blush here...but I didn't quite get it all dark enough.  Oh well.

Roanoke Zombie 5K

Here I am on the course ready to "kill" all the runners I could.  The brain fabric for the apron is from Spoonflower and I used the pattern found in The Liberty Book of Home Sewing.

WDBJ 7

Here I am trying my best to catch a runner.  I only caught two.  Zombies aren't fast!

Here I am with my sister after the race.  See those wacko bust darts?  I don't know what was going on.  I also didn't win the costume contest....all those winners were gross and bloody (not pink and flouncy).  But, I did pose in a multitude of photos!  So although I didn't look freshly (or unfreshly) like the walking dead, my costume was still a hit.

The event was a brain-eating good time and I hope they do it again next year.  But I still won't do icky....