I'm not exactly sure when I started down this ridiculously fabulous road.
I would have to guess that it was around my 30th birthday....because before my 30th birthday, I'm not sure I consumed coffee. Ooooh, do not get me wrong, I consumed cappuccinos throughout college. Infact I blame my college roommate, Mandy, for introducing me to my beloved. It was on a roadtrip between Pensacola, Florida and somewhere in Ohio that she implored me to just try mixing cappuccino with hot chocolate. That's all it took. Shell Gas Station Cappuccino and a shot of hot chocolate and I was hooked. There's something about being in a VW Fox with a large styrofoam mug of our coffee-concoction while listening to the New Kids of the Block Christmas cassette tape from circa 1990.
As with any addictions, it started off small....just during roadtrips... And then I met Ruth and Ruth and I would go to Books-a-million and Barnes & Noble to study....mostly we leafed-through magazines and read cute children's books while consuming coffee and talking about this-that-and-the-other.
After college, I worked at a bank with my friend Tammy. Tammy introduced me to The Gathering. A conveniently located across from the bank coffeeshop. It was beautiful. At this point in my life, coffee was a once a week treat. (I was so young and naive then.)
On a crazy whim, Tanya and I ventured to Florida for a vacation. I recall we tried keeping track of how much coffee we consumed but at some point, we threw in the towel. We bought the Old Navy flip-flops and we drank the coffee. Iced coffee. Hot coffee. Coffee-coffee-coffee!
And then I began teaching....even still, my coffee addiction was random at best. I still had not purchased a coffeemaker. Sara and I would indulge in Meg's and Barnes & Nobles every now and then...but nothing serious.
It wasn't until I took the secretary position at Terracon that I became a coffee junkie...and I'm going to guess that this is when I began collecting mugs.
I mean - I really had not need for mugs before Terracon.
Terracon changed my life. In so many ways.
Terracon brought out my inner-secretary.
Terracon helped me stay organized.
Terracon also introduced me to Post-it Notes. Post-it Notes everywhere. At one point, they were around the entire perimeter for my work computer screen.
After Terracon, the District. I don't even try to hide my coffee relationship here. There's a BUNN coffeemaker in the lunch/break-room. There's 2 pots of regular and 1 decaf.
I will say this - there are a handful of my co-workers that if I see them making the coffee, I will opt for green tea...as their motto is if 3 scoops is good, then 5 scoops is better! Can we say sludge? Nobody has time for sludge coffee.
Sooo my coffee cup collection... As with my coffee addiction, the mug obsession started off small and harmless. A mug here or there. Ooh look - the cherry dishes at the cottage come with 8 cherry mugs.
Somewhere over the course of the next several years, I've morphed into the girl who purchases a coffee cup souvenir. Isn't that just grand?
I have a lovely travel Seattle coffee mug that I cannot help but think about the surprise birthday trip out to visit her and her lovely family.
Then there's my Celtic Cat coffee mug and the mug with the arrows stating London and Dublin and various other places I would like to see.
I love that I can have this coffee cup collection and not have to explain to anyone else why I need 15 coffee mugs.
Every morning when I pour myself a mug of coffee, I'm reminded of a fun adventure. It's beautiful. It's a gift.
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