Sydney ToughMudder 2012

For our anniversary we took a trip to the NSW Central Coast. More on that later, but the main objective of the trip was to take part in TOUGHMUDDER... a 20km long obstacle course- mud, berlin walls, river crossings, electric shocks- just about everything they could throw at us!

SInce it was for our anniversary- 1 year married and 7 years together- we(I) decided we should do it in appropriate fancy dress :D But obviously the course was going to be tough, so we needed something that wouldn't get in the way too much. Both outfits are made out of cheapo technical fabric refashioned from K-Mart sport clothes. 1 vest, 1 black tshirt and 2 white tshirts = $15. 

Didn't we look great?! Ok, so my dress looks a little like a nighty, but I quite like the draping I managed to do on the back to make a bit of a bustle instead of a train.

The dress was the vest chopped off short, attached to one of the tshirts chopped of below the sleeves. Plus some lace and flowers from the stash (the flowers were prototypes for the actual wedding!)

The suit was the black t-shirt cut open along the front, with the front panel of the other white shirt carefully sewn in along the seams of the black shirt, so it effectively had two front panels. I sewed down the "lapels" so they wouldn't just flop around too much- one side has an actual buttonhole and the other side has a fabric buttonhole, also a prototype from the big day, and sewed the front closing button on through all the layers to make them stay. 

The bow tie is made from the left over fabric scraps and sewn on firmly.

I think he looks quite dapper, all things considered!

Just before the start!

And just after.

Part way through, climbing down to swim a river.

Notice the not-so-white dress!

Then the photos stop... it gets hard to tell who is who when you are this covered in mud!

Most of it wasn't too bad. The spirit of mate-ship was great, so for things like the berlin walls (especially the one that was 4m high) where they way no way in hell most people would be able to get over, there were people to give you a leg over. Or basically throw you over! Some of it was just shear determination, like carrying a log on your shoulder through thigh deep swamp for a kilometer. Easy to start with, horribly hard half way through!

The worst for me was the electric eel. I always knew it was going to be the hardest for me, because I am a strong believer that people and electricity shouldn't mix, but I wanted to try it. It was awful. I was almost in tears just trying to make myself start! Army crawling through the mud in wet clothes under charged wires and regularly getting painful zaps. Halfway through I got a really strong one on my head and freaked, I just wanted to get out of there. But the only real way was to carry on, so I did. While getting zapped some more. I got out the far end and just lay there in a puddle, hyperventilating. Then the Boy picked me up and I burst into tears. After I recovered, I was good to carry on but there was no way I was doing the second electric one!

I loved all the water ones, swimming or wading or jumping off a high platform. They were fun, and cool (it got up to the high 20s), and washed some of the mud off! The monkey bars were hard as they went up hill, not just flat. I was hopeless! And the hills they threw in to wear you out were just plain cruel.

The hardest was the Mud Mile- a series of trenches filled with increasingly viscous mud. They started of OK, but by the end they were so thick that it was really hard to move. Even pulling your self over the top was hard, never mind if you sank in it at all. and by that time (probably about 16-18km in) we were getting pretty tired! My skirt acted as a sail, slowing me down even more. I'll admit we gave up on that one after about 5 of 7 main trenches, in the hope of actually making it to the end of the course. 

We made it through to the end though, slowly but surely!

We had lots of people congratulating us on our anniversary, and saying what a great way it was to celebrate. I have to say I agree!

There were a few casualties- our outfits were binned, and our shoes were donated to charity (though I'm not sure who would want them!)

The Boy kept his bow tie. I think he quite liked it. Win!

I managed to fall on the 5m halfpipe, and land on my cheek/temple. I think I was so shocked at almost making it over the top that when my hand slipped out of the hand of the guy who was going to try and help me over and I totally forgot to protect myself. 

It gave me an awesome black eye to be proud of, but sadly the swelling trapped some of the nasty mud/water in my ear and I developed *the worst* ear infection within 12 hours. I woke up in the middle of the night in agony, and made the Boy drive us around Sydney in a camper van at 7am on a monday trying to find somewhere to buy drugs to make the pain go away... 

I got an emergency appointment with my GP when we were back in Perth that afternoon  because blood stained gunk had started pouring out of my ear hole... too much information, you say?!? Yup, but it was really disturbing, on top of the pain. 

My heart was saying 

"head injury plus fluid in ears = serious"

I knew in my head that it was just a bad infection, but always good to get these things checked! 

(I did get it checked straight away, and they couldn't feel any abnormalities and just gave me a cold pack to help with the swelling, but they had lots of people to cover...)

I flew out to Italy not long after, and got some funny looks. Its hard to explain what I did in English, never mind in a language that I can only just order a coffee in!

So... Would I do it again?

Yes, probably. Now the pain has gone away. If only to see how on earth Perth can produce that much mud, considering we only have sand!

Would I recommend it to others?

I think so. To the right others anyway. I can imagine certain friends wanting to do it, but then complaining the whole way around. Thats not how it works! And we saw a few people who were potentially quite seriously hurt, and heard of more later (but also heard they were OK in the end).  

But if you read what I just wrote and still like the sound of it, then do it! And get a bigger group than 1 or 2 together, because it definitely looked more fun in a team! And wear something like skins that cover your knees. They don't have to be expensive- mine and the Boys were from K-mart, under the rest of the clothes- but I can't imagine the chaffing from all that mud in a non-synthetic, loose pair of shorts, and both of our knees are scratched to hell.   

First Slash Seventh Anniversary!

Today marks a year since we were married and became "legal" in the eyes of the English law, though Friday marks our 7th anniversary!

Wedding Album!

OK, so its nearly been a year, but I finally got our wedding album. I've been putting off ordering it until they had a sale, as the lay flat photo books are kind of expensive! I was a bit hesitant, as ours in the biggest format (12"x12") with the most possible pages so it was heading to $400, which is a lot but about a third of the quote from the photographer for her to do it! Plus this way we can have the photos we really like, and include "unofficial" pictures too. Plus I got 30% off :D

It came in a box matching the front cover, to protect the pages.

Some of the preparations. Got to make sure The Boy is in there somewhere!

Our vows. We also have these printed out and hung as a triptych in our bedroom
along with the "first kiss" photo.

This is my favourite page!

They lay flat pages are so good for this stuff. I might have cried a little when I got to it.

In case you were wondering, BigW have no idea I'm writing this, and definitely didn't give me anything for sharing it with you!

DIY Wedding Shoes!

So, I just saw a feature on modified wedding shoes on Grosgrain and thought I would add mine to the mix.

I started out trying to hack some ex-bridesmaid shoes that I would be unlikely to wear again. I attempted to cover them in the fabric we were using for lots of the details. They looked OK, but were home made, and not in a good way.

I never got them much past this stage. I did trim it down, but it just wasn't working.

I gave up on them and bought some glittery oat-meal coloured with maribou and diamante and pearls.

But I really did want some orange ones to go under the dress.

A few days before the wedding I was out shopping in Manchester, and saw a nearly perfect pair of orange strapy heels in Monsoon, heavily reduced. The heels were a bit high, and they were a bit plain, but they were the perfect shade of orange, and had lots of potential.

The boys buttonholes were hand made, using melted-edge flowers and different coloured buttons. The bridesmaids had some on slide for their hair. So I added some to the orange shoes to make them that bit more special. 

I simply attached two onto the t-bar of each shoe, a larger, more voluminous one lower down, and a smaller one at the top. Quick, easy, kept well with the theme and I loved them. 

And all for less than $15!

My bridesmaids lovingly does my shoe up for me. 

They were used to it by this stage because the broken elbow meant I couldn't easily do things like tie shoelaces or open doors, so they'd spent a lot of the previous 2 weeks tying shoe laces and opening door for me! You don't realise how much stuff requires two dexterous arms!

 Lookily most of the DIY was already done pre-break!

Cake!

We loved our cake.

Prepare to be shocked... The Boy came up with the idea!

Carrying on the button theme... and the colour scheme.

We had some issues getting across the vibrancy of the colour scheme. Most weddings seem to be more baby blue and/or apricot, but once we'd sent the colour inspiration across, we got exactly what we wanted!

What the history books will say we did...

How we actually cut the cake:

Wedding dress bustle!

Every brides worst nightmare must include her dress not fitting on the day. I was flying in not long before the wedding, so big alterations were out of the question, I had to hope it was right first time.


My dress was the right length, so I didn't have to worry about that, and the tie-back meant it fit fine, but I did spend an evening just before the wedding adding a very simple bustle construction.


I hadn't realised that there would be no way to bustle the train up automatically, as the sales lady had implied it was possible when I first bought it. I didn't realise I would have to pay for their "alterations package" to get it done, so I freaked out slightly! Two hundred pounds, when all i needed was a way to dance!


Then I calmed down, and resolved to do it myself. Much to the horror of the ladies in the shop I'm sure.


I sewed a vintage glass button on (from my mothers stash) which got lost in the lace and beading down the back, and added a ribbon loop at the base of the tie back, which was hidden when not in use. And done!

Not as elegant as it might have been, but it did its job, and didn't break as has happened to many friends with professionally done bustles!

I read into some of the traditions and taboos about weddings during the planning, since we were having a pretty unconventional wedding. I wanted us to keep the important ones, but maybe with a twist. One said that the bride should never try on the complete outfit prior to the day,  or it will bring bad luck, so many left a final stitch til just before she wore it (though the number of stitches she sews will be the number of tears the marriage will result in....) Sewing on a button can't be that many stitches, I'll take it.
Especially since I found a HUGE spider on my dress as well, another apparent symbol of luck.

And really, after every one has ooh-ed and aaah-ed over the bride, the photos are done with, everyone had a glass of champagne or three and wants to dance, who is going to notice?

From this /\

to this! \/ 

The closest  could find to a photo showing the bustle!

Apparently people don't take photos of the back of the bride!

Actually, there is this one too. Meet my baby brother :)

Wedding Pictures :)

Picture heavy, but click to see bigger!