The Zombie Invasion Has Begun!

A photography friend of mine, known on Flickr as Eyebrows 360 even though I know his true secret identity to be something much more normal, witnessed the dreaded zombie invasion and managed to survive long enough to post pictures online. It has begun. All of those hours I spent carefully studying zombie movies and reading survival guides will come in handy in the days to come. Sure, this invasion took place in Brighton, England, but it's only a matter of time before the infection spreads to our shores. Expect to see scenes as horrifying as these soon:








How cool is that?! All photos are from Eyebrows 360. Be sure to check out his Flickr set for more gory shots from the day.

In I-shouldn't-be-as-sad-about-this-as-I-am news, it looks like running in this year's zombie 5k in my hometown of Charlottesville, VA isn't in the cards for me. Initially, I thought it would be a convenient jaunt as we're going to be in northern Virginia that weekend for a family event, but between the University of Virginia having family weekend, thus filling the area hotels, and some UFC pay-per-view event the night before that my husband simply can't miss (thus ruling out a stay at my mom's cable-free house) it looks to be more trouble than it's worth. Besides, why add an extra four-hour drive to our trip just so I can do a 35-minute run? At least that's what I'm trying to tell myself when I get all teary eyed at the thought of missing it. All those weeks of training for nothing. At least I know that it's something I could do if geography weren't an issue. That's nowhere near as good as the sense of accomplishment I'd feel if I actually did the race but it's the best I'll get.

Braaaaaains! Zombies want brains. And exercise?

Looks like I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna lace up my sneakers and enter the world of competitive running. Just last month I posted a picture for my photography project about how I should get off my lazy butt and start running again to shed the pounds my regular workouts weren't getting rid of. I knew that by publicly posting that I wouldn't be able to make any more excuses. So for weeks I've added piddly little two-mile runs to my regular workout routine. No results yet, alas, but upon discovering that there will be a zombie-themed 5k in my hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia I got to thinking that perhaps it's something I can do. Even stranger is that I find myself actually wanting to do it, excited about the idea.

Of course, my nascent running "skills" involve my crawling along at a snail's pace so I don't expect anything from myself but to finish the run. Not to mention that Charlottesville has a huge running community so I'll be up against pros. Oh, and did I mention the hills? Oh yes, the wonderful hills that made learning to drive stick shift that much more fun will also add an extra challenge to the run. One which I can't train for since I live in New Jersey now. Instead I'll count on an even slower time and more fatigue than I'm accustomed to. No matter how poor my time will be I'm still happy to have something to work toward and can't wait to see the zombies out and about in costume. It should be a blast!

Season's Eatings!

I am going to risk alienating all of my followers by diverging sharply from the cheery, festive holiday posts out there on other, more respectable blogs. As cute as I find those more traditional holiday crafts and free printables you're all nicely offering, we all know that my heart truly lies with the scary, creepy, and morbid. Which is why I just had to share these spiffy zombie holiday printables out there for the 0.000001% of you out there like me.

We'll kick it off with something completely sacrilegious sure to horrify half of you: a zombie nativity scene. This is so offensive that the site originally hosting it took it down but clever little zombie lovers out there have mercifully preserved it for the rest of us. You can download the PDF here.


The rest of the downloads come from a site promoting the book Rise Again: A Zombie Thriller by Ben Tripp. You can find more fun downloads including alternate book covers, a zombie half mask, and iPhone wallpapers here. My favorites are the holiday ones including these holiday cards:


Mom always said that it's rude to not send Christmas cards out to the extended family.


They bill these are ornaments or gift tags but I'm seeing the makings of a Christmas garland here.


These gift tags make me sad that I've already wrapped and delivered most of my presents this year. I'll just have to print some out and save then with my Christmas goodies to use next year.

Of course, I wish I'd discovered all of this sooner so I would have had time to get everything cut out and up to decorate my home for the holidays in a way that truly suits me. Oh well, it's never too early to start planning for next Christmas. Assuming the zombie apocalypse doesn't occur and wipe us all out before then.