I don't remember the first time I ever saw Elvira aka Cassandra Peterson, but I'm sure it was in the early 1980s on TV. As a kid, I thought, she looks sexy in her low-cut dress, is incredibly funny, and loves horror movies! I wanted to be her when I grew up. Even in my ALL girls Catholic High School (believe it or not, I went to one of those) I had a picture of her on my art portfolio. The other girls thought I was weird. But little did they know ~ it was a test. If you didn't know who Elvira is, I simply couldn't relate to you.

So let's talk about Elvira: Mistress of the Dark's style. She keeps the "must have" classics in mind...the LBD, heels, big hair and leopard print everything as her signature look, and really shouldn't every gal's wardrobe include some OR all of these things?!

Her makeup is always on point, literally. It's so sharp she can stab you with it. Her cat eye is winged out to purrrfection and her red lips are to DIE FOR. So naturally when I saw that Lunatick Cosmetics came out with an Elvira makeup palette, it had to be mine. OH yes. It's a limited edition coffin shaped compact with pigments made for a horror hostess. I've never ordered anything from this company before, but I wasn't disappointed. Even the packaging alone is GORE-geous. You guys, it's a pop-up spiderweb and candelabra!

So I'm no makeup artist by any means, but here's my attempt at using all the colors in the palette in the order that they are shown, without any other makeup ~ except a tiny bit of cover up and chapstick. I know I look nothing like her, but if you squint really hard...nevermind. I look more like a drag queen or the chick from black swan. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. 😉 The eyeliner points are hard to define without a liquid eyeliner. The red I used over chapstick and it's more shimmery than the picture. So my question is when is Elvira coming out with her line of eyeliners and lipstick? I would need all of them.

You can find the palette here: Elvira Palette

I've always loved Elvira's delivery. More often than not, the movies she's hosting are bad, even for B movies. So during the breaks she really just says what's on the audiences mind, all while cracking jokes and making the best eye rolling faces. I like how real she is. Yeah, yeah I know big fake wig and all, but she's actually very nice. I met her once at Viva Las Vegas. It was at the car show and hotter than hell out that day. I was the first in line. She told me she liked my hearse dress and to put on more sunscreen. I was so sweaty my cheek stuck to her "hair". It's not a very good picture but the memory of meeting her is great. I'm still fan girling over it 7 years later.

Isn't it sad how in this day and age women still have a hard time being considered BOTH sexy and funny? Heaven forbid. We can't have that. But that's a discussion for a different day.

Unpleasant Dreams everyone.

After apartment living and not being able to have pets, the first thing my husband, Andrew and I did - after buying a house - was get two cats. It was late in November and we went looking for our new pets. Both came from Petsmart though the SPCA Serving Erie County. We definitely didn't want kittens, since those are easily adopted (because they are SO cute), we wanted older cats, and more importantly we wanted them to pick us. Little did we know our older cats would be super cute too.

The moment I saw Miss Ginger Rogers I knew she was the one - although back then her name was Cinnabun. (What a lame-ass name.) I think it may have made sense because she is a short hair kitty with tabby coloring and a dash of orange ginger cat. I picked her up and she immediately started purring. She's a tiny kitty at 6 lbs soaking wet and incredibly light on her feet, hence Ginger Rogers....or more like a ninja because you don't hear her or see her half the time, but she's there watching and waiting.

Ginger was three years old when she picked me, so she's about 13 now. She's the sweetest cat you could ever meet and is always there to knead and purr right next to you. She'll lure you in with her petite cuteness, but don't be fooled, she's a fighter and will claw your eyes out if necessary. I think it's because she was a stray, she's a hunter. We're lucky to have her in our lives. Bonus: she eats all the bugs in our house.

This would be her self titled album cover ~ Ginger and the Meow Meows.

Stay tuned, I'll be writing about our other cat Vicktor Frankenstein soon enough.

I'm lucky enough to live near a place that shows First Run movies in a cafe setting. It's called the Screening Room and it's attached to a mall, but it's in the back and has a separate entrance. The Screening Room is like a secret handshake. If you're in the know, you know where to find it. It's a hidden gem and I've been going there for almost 25 years. I have fond memories of watching A Clockwork Orange, Clerks, and Blow Up on a big screen~ for the first time~ in this intimate setting.

Recently they showed The Autopsy of Jane Doe. It was a random Tuesday night and I was ready to watch some horror. The movie was a pleasant surprise. In the first ten minutes the plot is revealed. In a normal horror movie you would think, "Well, I know what's going to happen-lots of jump scares and gruesome blood." This was the complete opposite. What I loved about it was the simplicity of the characters and setting.

Without giving too much away it's about a father and son that work in a mortuary that need to figure out how an unidentified woman died. The characters feel like real people and as they unearth hidden signs throughout the autopsy the audience discovers everything in real time, just as they are seeing it. You're really on the edge of your seat rooting for them to figure out the puzzle and to fight all the supernatural ghosts that come along for creepy scares. The whole thing takes place with two main actors (and the body) in a mortuary. That's it. And truly that's all you need for a horror story. The ending leaves you questioning whether the things they witnessed really happened. The story leaves it open for a sequel, which I'm excited to see. I hope they give more background of the history of the body, I want to know more! It was a refreshing original supernatural horror movie.

Here's the trailer:

Hi, I'm Julie Ann, and probably a little bit late to the blog-o-sphere, but after chatting with my husband about my two favorite things ~ cats and (gasp!) horror movies ~ he said, "There's probably other people out there who share your love. You should start a blog." So here I am.

My focus is pretty specific. I can predict you'll see many pictures of my cats Vicktor Frankenstein and Ginger Rogers, and anything cat related, AND I'll be writing about horror movies and creepy things.

Oh and I must warn you dear readers, I have a terrible writing complex. It started in grad school when I was told I write how I speak. I'm hoping this blog will help me find a place for the way I write... which may tend to be train of thought at times. I just get SO excited about sharing ideas. (No seriously, I do.) So come along with me on this bloody and cute journey!