The Little Things: Coffee Mugs

Posted on May 20, 2015

As I was getting ready to make myself a cup of coffee, I decided to share with you all a little collection of mine: coffee mugs! If there is one way to my heart, it’s through mugs! Whenever I’m in a store like Chapters, HomeSense and mostly Starbucks, I go straight to the mug section and I get giddy! I’m not sure what it is about them, but what I do know is that I LOVE them! Even when I’m visiting at my parents or a friends home, I usually scout out their mug selection to pre-determine which one I’d like to use for my morning coffee! Ok, I’m sounding more and more weird as I’m typing this!

But we all have something like that, don’t we? Something that we love to collect. Something that brightens our day. Something that makes us smile. Even though it’s materialistic, we live our lives surrounded by material things. And although I know I won’t be taking any of these mugs with me to Heaven, I do think it’s fun to celebrate the little things in our lives that make life just that much more enjoyable. And if I could go so far to say, I think even God loves to see us enjoying His creation…His provisions in our lives…His riches that He’s bestowed on us through both material possessions and family/friends.

You see, these aren’t just coffee mugs to me. These are stories. These are part of dear friendships that I hold so valuable to me. Some are heirlooms now being passed down to the next generation. These mugs mean so much more to me than just a piece of porcelain that contains my coffee: they represent pieces of my life.

All of the Starbucks mugs have a story behind them and I know them all. Each day, I pick a different one and I think about the person that bought it for me or the place we visited when we bought it. It conjures up so many warm and awesome memories of love and gratitude. Three of the colorful fine china teacups and saucers where my grandmas wedding gift. That is so special to me. Our white Wedgewood fine china was mostly bought from my husband’s granny as a wedding present and she is no longer with us. We honor her when we use them. The two Chapters Initial mugs, one L and one M, where mine and my daughter Leah’s when we celebrated the launch of this blog with a party. She absolutely loves drinking out of her special mug cause she remembers that day was so special for mommy and so special that she was included with the big girls!

These mugs are so much more then mugs.

These mugs are always a conversation piece in our home when friends come to visit. Especially the Starbucks collection. Mostly people laugh at us cause they think it’s a little weird that we have an ENTIRE CUPBOARD devoted to JUST mugs! We started collecting the mugs on our first cruise eight years ago as a practical souvenir (Puerto Rico & Bahamas were the first ones) and now, over 30 mugs later, we have mugs from all around the world! My mom is almost just as obsessed as we are in collecting them! She not only diligently searches for Starbucks in every place she visits, she’s got her friends AND co-workers buying them for us from their travels! That is so special and meaningful to me!

I decided to stop and count all my Starbucks mugs (by the way, do you know that these are now all collectors items and are selling for BIG money on ebay?!) and recount the stories from them. I couldn’t believe I had over 30 mugs! Below are the stories that come with each precious mug.

Starbucks Collection:
1. Nashville (You Are Here Collection), given by my best friend Christina when we visited her & her family in their new home. The only one I have in this new series
2. New Zealand (Global Icon Series), given by my parents from their travels
3. Australia (Global Icon Series), given by my parents from their travels
4. Tainan (Global Icon Series), given by my friend Stephanie & Jonelle from their travels
5. Taiwan (Global Icon Series), given by my friend Stephanie & Jonelle from their travels
6. Hawaii x2 (Global Icon Series), given by my friend Alyssa from her travels
7. Switzerland (Global Icon Series), given by my mom’s co-worker
8. Indianapolis (Global Icon Series), given by family friends the Crosiers from their travels
9. Charlotte (Global Icon Series), bought for ourselves after spending all day in the Charlotte airport
10. Turkey (Global Icon Series), given by my parents from their travels
11. Toronto (Global Icon Series), given by my friend Amelia and now where we live
12. Los Angeles (Global Icon Series), given by my parents from their travels
13. Northern Ireland (Global Icon Series), given by my parents friends
14. London (Global Icon Series), exchanged online with someone from a Facebook collectors group. I know, I’m a little weird. I admit it!
15. Chicago (Global Icon Series), given by our friends Angela & Blair from their trip
16. Aruba (Global Icon Series), given by my parents from their travels. This has a crack in it so we don’t use it anymore but I think it’s the prettiest one in the entire series
17. Florida (Global Icon Series), bought for ourselves from a somewhat life changing trip to Florida two years ago. It has a big chip in it so we don’t use it anymore, but every time I see it, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness in our lives
18. Canada (Global Icon Series), given by my friend Julia
19. Vancouver (Global Icon Series), given & mailed by my friend and mentor Phil S
20. Poland (Global Icon Series), given by our friends Amber & Matt from where they used to live
21. Singapore (Global Icon Series), given by my second mom & dad, Linda & Tom
22. Vancouver (Skyline Series), bought for ourselves when we used to live there. To date, my all time favorite Starbucks City mug! Vancouver has my heart: that’s where I met my hubby, went to school and made so many lifelong friends. Transformational years were spent there for me.
23. Victoria (Skyline Series), bought for ourselves when we visited my hubby’s Granny there
24. New York (Architectural Series), bought for ourselves on our trip to NYC when we fell in love with that city many years ago
25. Canada (Architectural Series), bought for ourselves randomly one day when getting coffee
26. Las Vegas (City Scene Series), given by my friend Renee, who had been given by her daughter Amber (also my dear friend) from her travels
27. Toronto (City Scene Series), bought by my friends Julia & Christina
28. London (CityMug Collectors Series) given by my friend Renee, who had been given by her daughter Amber (also my dear friend) from her travels
29. Puerto Rico (CityMug Collectors Series), bought by ourselves on our Caribbean cruise *this mug started it all!*
30. Paris (CityMug Collectors Series) given by my friend Renee, who had been given by her daughter Amber (also my dear friend) from her travels
31. Istanbul (CityMug Collectors Series) given by my friend Renee, who had been given by her daughter Amber (also my dear friend) from her travels
32. Bangkok (CityMug Collectors Series) given by my friend Renee, who had been given by her daughter Amber (also my dear friend) from her travels
33. Bahamas (CityMug Collectors Series), bought by ourselves on our Caribbean cruise
34. Munich (CityMug Collectors Series) given by my friend Renee, who had been given by her daughter Amber (also my dear friend) from her travels

What is the little thing in your life that brings you a little added joy everyday? What do you love to collect? Leave me your answers in the comments below!