Mugs are more than something to hold your coffee.

I cherish weekend mornings. I always have, but now that I have a 9-5, I cherish them even more. I like to wake up slowly (even if it's early), throw on sweats and a cardigan, create a delectable breakfast treat (today it was the pumpkin muffins from the Babycakes NYC cookbook) and most importantly, brew up a big pot of coffee.


I drink coffee everyday, but during the week it's out of a travel mug during my first hour of work when I'm trying desperately to wake up. I have realized in recent months that my addiction to caffeine (yes, espresso is my drug of choice) mostly manifests itself in dull headaches and burning eyeballs - so needless to say, that travel mug of coffee is essential. Coffee on the weekends is different though. Saturday and Sunday mornings give us the opportunity to actually savor this wonderful drink that nature has so generously given us. Instead of hurriedly pouring the entire pot into that durable plastic container with a spill-proof top, we can reach into our cabinets, select the perfect mug, and leisurely sip away at the steaming, vanilla creamer enhanced morning cocktail.


I have a slight obsession with mugs. They are the one thing I always buy, because I can ALWAYS justify the purchase price. (Unlike a t-shirt or a magnet or some other worthless souvenir object, I can pretty much guarantee I will use a mug.) I have mugs from all over the world - Paris, Turkey, Australia...most of these are the city mugs from Starbucks that I started collecting in Sydney when I was 21 and continued to gather from my travels studying in Europe. I also have gotten several as gifts - a couple of my favorites being a purple mug with paw prints that reads "Dog Mom" and another with a picture of a T-rex skeleton from the Natural History Museum in New York City. (Both from the same person, I think someone knows me too well...) As a result, I need an entire shelf for all of them:

I really probably need a whole cabinet to display them properly. Seeing that I am in marketing, aesthetics are very important to me. (Yes. Even my mug shelf would be well merchandised in my ideal world.) I get so much joy out of selecting a mug on a weekend morning or a weekday night when I want a cup of herbal tea, which most nights I indulge in. I enjoy the stories behind them, the joy that they bring me and most of all the comfort that inevitably comes when you fill them with a hot cup of Tazo Calm or Starbucks House Blend mixed with Hazelnut coconut creamer.

I once described coffee to a friend as "comforting - like drinking a hug", and I to this day fully believe in that. (I also would like to see this on a future Starbucks cup, but I'm not sure that the high-up executives would find it as endearing as I do.) It sums up the fact that warm beverages are so much more than a means to an end; much more than a pick-me-up when its freezing outside or as a method to get caffeine flowing through your veins. 

It's comfort in a cup. Something to turn to when friends, family and puppies aren't available. A reminder to take things slower. To savor the moments in life that matter and forget, even if just temporarily, the ones that don't. So many of our greatest conversations and bonding times occur over hot drinks - you might not think it, but its true. You meet a girlfriend at Starbucks to catch up; after Christmas dinner your family sits around the table sipping hot chocolate laughing about old stories; you and your sister cry over a breakup while sipping peppermint tea and watching reruns of Friends

It's almost never just a cup of coffee. Just keep that in mind :)

♥mb.