All Four Harts: Coffee and Mugs

Here are my random thoughts on my love of coffee and coffee mugs. I usually drink one cup of coffee a day in the morning. I used to think that it was a social thing at work and that I enjoyed chatting in the kitchen with people getting their morning coffee. While I was at home on my maternity leave, I started to enjoy the time sitting and drinking my coffee. Especially if I woke up before Laci and I could sit and read the paper and enjoy my morning coffee. I have discovered the yumminess of flavored creamers and flavored coffee. I only drank decaf while I was nursing Laci and I don’t have flavored decaf at home so flavored creamers worked really well. I really like lattes. A perfect cup is about half coffee, half milk, some sugar/splenda and vanilla. Now that I am at work, I still enjoy my cup of coffee every morning. Since I am often the first one here, I don’t run into very many people in the kitchen while I get my coffee. I love being the first one to make the coffee in the morning. I feel like I am making an important contribution to the office. I even brought my flavored creamers here. And I still savor that first cup of coffee every morning. Sometimes while I drink it I feel like I should be on a Folgers commercial, sigh.

Someone sent me a forwarded email once about coffee and mugs. It was something about how given the choice people will choose the fancier mugs but the coffee is still the same in all of them. The point was something about life being the coffee and the type of mug (job, society, etc.) isn’t important. It’s a nice point. But I really love coffee mugs and I think it makes the coffee. For example, when we first got the mugs that we have at home that match our plates, I wasn’t impressed. But now I love them. There is just something about those mugs to wrap your hands around it. When I was a kid, I had a Fozzi mug that was in the shape of Fozzi’s head. Of course, at that time I was just drinking hot chocolate but it was special in the Fozzi mug. I really wanted a Santa mug in the shape of Santa’s head and last year I found a snowman one like that - perfect for Christmas time. There is just something distinctive about a diner coffee mug too, especially when you had two little packets of cream and it swirls around the black coffee. The coffee just tastes uniquely different in a diner. I love porcelain tea sets. They are so dainty and fancy with the delicate handle and beautiful designs. I would love a set of them some day. I mentioned that to my mother in law once and she said that she has a couple of inherited sets and hinted that we may inherit a set too some day. I love after dinner coffee in a china coffee cup. That may be the only time I like coffee black. It is so fancy and dainty in a china coffee cup. Black coffee in a china cup goes so well with cake. I have a Mickey Mouse mug that is brown/tan that matches the color of my coffee perfectly. I find myself changing my work coffee mug with the seasons too. Hearts for Valentines Day, green for spring, snowman for winter.

Its really the shape of the mug that I like. Sometimes I see one that I just have to have. Here is a picture of my Mother's Day gift - a new mug. I had been eyeing it for awhile and told Laci to get it for me for Mother's day. Look at the shape - it's tall but the handle is at the top. It even came with a travel lid.

All of my coworkers know my favorite mug. Here are the pictures that I had put on it. The first one is from Laci's 2nd birthday. I asked Charlie to take a picture of Laci that morning when she woke up. I didn't mean to flash the camera the moment she opened her eyes! Could she look anymore hungover? The caption is "Need Coffee!!!" I took a few more of a happy Laci posed to be enjoying a happy cup of coffee.

Need Coffee!!!

I am sharing my love of coffee with Laci too. We frequently go on "coffee dates". In the winter/fall, we split a hot chocolate. In the summer we will get frappuchinos or smoothies. At home on Saturdays, I will often make her hot chocolate with ice cubes in her little "Laci" mug. I love just sitting at coffee shops and chatting and watching the world go by. I hope we can continue this as she grows. Especially into her teenage years as a way to stay close.

So to go on with the analogy, coffee is life and mugs are the stuff around it, I love the stuff in life!

Here's a few pictures of the kids enjoying their "coffee dates".