The Grooviest Girl in the World said "Yes!"

Time once again to get all personal here on GlenMullaly.com... The Blog!!! But this go-round I've got a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good reason for my trip to Heartfeltland. On February 15th I became engaged to (with all due respect to every other woman on Earth) the most awesomest, kickin'est, grooviest girl in the world! I've never been happier and more content in my life and I have one amazing woman named Joanne to thank (or blame!) for it.

Regular readers of this bulogue will have noticed an increasing amount of thinly veiled romantic posts over the last few months as I've had a difficult time holdin' back the overflowing amazingness I've been feeling lately. Disguised as references to the GUSW group's success, the recent Obama visit to Canada, or just a general hopefulness for 2009, this wonderful feeling I've been feeling finally gets shared with the world today under no hidden allusions or false topics!

You have been warned.
So... on the day after Valentine's Day my sweetie and I were partaking in one of our favourite pastimes, browsing (apparently randomly) in the top floor comics section of a well-loved, local used bookstore when I pointed out ('cause she didn't find it on her own!) a copy of a 1979 Ripley's Believe It or Not! comic book that she had posted a picture of herself holding on the photo-sharing site Flickr (through which we met. But that's ANOTHER story!) a few months ago. She had commented that she wished she still owned that particular funny-book - so one would expect her to flip out when she stumbled across it. You would think...
Using this ultra low-res image I tracked down a copy of the same vintage comic, purchased it online, and created a false first page in the style of the newspaper version of the Ripley's daily panel cartoon - that included both real Ripley's entries as well as a customized, illustrated piece on my love and the proposal that was about to occur. I planted the comic in the bookstore's stacks (shortly before), and, after having to encourage her a couple of times to check out the issue ("um... I don't think that's the one I had. Mine had a shrunken head on it." "Well... why don't you take a look at the date? It should be on the first page." HINT, HINT!!!) she finally looked at the customized page.

AND THEN PROCEEDED TO PUT IT AWAY!!!

Once again I suggested, with my back turned pretending to look at something else a few feet away, but in fact with my heart in my throat, that she examine the first page more closely. It took what seemed like 837 years, but finally you could see a glint of something in her gorgeous eyes. First amusement ("Hey, this girl has the same name as me...!") then confusion turning to disbelief, morphing to shock, and finally... full-on lightheadedness-slash-nausea.

THAT'S the reaction I had been looking for!!!
And so, with the girl of my dreams in that state of mind I proceeded to propose to her - the love of my life, the only woman I can imagine wanting to spend my every living minute with. I held out the 1938 engagement ring with which my Great Uncle proposed to my Great Aunt (before 50 plus years of loving marriage), and asked her, bended knee-style, to marry me.
At this point a Hitchcockian plot twist involving that WAY too curious onlooker (who kept poking his head around the corner of the bookshelves to the sound of Joanne's "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!) calling the cops on my geeky butt, or both of us getting thrown out of the bookstore for reverse shoplifting would have added some well-needed entertainment value. But the absolutely amazing, wonderfully, breathtakingly fantabulous truth is that she said... YES!

After a frantic search for a stool to prevent her passing out on the floor, a brief rest, the quick concealment in my messenger bag once again of the aforementioned smuggled-in comic book, and a wobbly-legged (both of us!) trip down a long flight of stairs we barely managed to make it to the nearest coffee shop to get our bearings and begin planning our new life together.

And so now (with respect this time to the other 50% of Terra Firma's population) I'm the happiest man in the world.

Happy Two-Days after Valentines Day!

I had the most wonderful Valentines Day EVER on Saturday!!!!!!! Here's just a couple of visual representations in the form of the Amazing Love Monkey that my sweetie hand-made for me, and the front of the painted card I made for her.

I can't wait for next Feb. 14th!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I feeling especially excited on this day of love, so I thought I'd share a couple vintage illustrations from Humpty Dumpty's magazine over at my flickr! Well look at that - there's one of them above!

Crazy Cork Board Clean-Up Contest!

Whilst cleaning up the ol' studio today of accumulated junk and eraser shavings I grabbed a handful of items attached to, or resting on top of, the cork board adjacent to my drafting table. So for my first official, honest-to-goodness-no-kidding-folks contest (valuable grand prize - your wasted time! That way everyone's a winner!... except your work or spouse, of course), see how many of these knick-knacks, do-dads, thingamajigs, and plain old pop-culture artifacts you can identify!

These not-so precious treasures date from the early 1970s to 2008, so educated guesses and made-up answers count!

I was going to stipulate that friends, employees, and family members of employees of Glen Mullaly.com...The Blog are ineligible to enter - but that would pretty much rule everyone out!

GOOD LUCK!

It's Him!

GEORGE Him, to be precise! I'm sharing a few pages from the extra super swell "The Giant Alexander" 1964 children's book illustrated by Poland's George Him over at that there Flickr thingamabobbie right now, and thought you might like to know.

That is all.

You may now go about your daily business.

Scram, I tells ya!