Every Coffee Mug Tells a Story

On my personal Facebook page, I greet the virtual world with a Bible verse and a fantasy coffee photo.

On My BryonySeries Facebook page, I greet the virtual world with a fantasy coffee photo.

On my personal Twitter page, I greet the virtual world with a Bible verse and a photo I've taken (or one that one of my kids have taken).

On my BryonySeries Twitter page, I greet the virtual world with my real cup of coffee that's sitting beside me.

Ah, my collection of coffee cups.

When the kids make a cup of coffee for themselves, they jokingly complain they don't know which cup/mug to take.

Now the cupboard is full of mugs. But they're not allowed to use the "special" ones - the mugs people have given to me as gifts.

If fact, the first decision I make for the day is selecting the right mug for the mood from the vast array of cups that stare back at me, hoping that today, I'll choose them..

Here are a few of them along with their stories.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. It's just that these photos were readily available on my computer this morning.

And here we go!

Sue Midlock, the illustration for The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series, gifted me with this cup because she said it reminded her of me. I love the vintage blue - and I can feel like I'm sipping coffee inside Simons Mansion!

This is one of the last remaining pieces from a set of dishes someone had given us when we were homeless and moving into an apartment back in 2014. I love the blue and white, and it's perfect for that small, pick-me-up cup of coffee.

By the way, isn't that BryonySeries mouse pad great? Rekekah surprised me with it.

This mug was a gift from Rebekah. The colors don't show up that well, but it's in blue (my favorite color) and BryonySeries purple.

This mug is part of the first "real" set of dishes Rebekah and Daniel bought for the house - when we could finally afford to buy dishes of our own.

A couple of years ago, I was invited to be "Principal for a Day" at Joliet Public Schools District 86. This mug was part of my swag. I use it a lot on Saturdays when I'm working on vampire fiction because the color combination inspires me.

You can't tell from the picture, but this was from a set of little mugs Timothy rescued from the trash at one of his workplaces. The mugs featured an image of the Mona Lisa. All of them have broken except this one.

And if you don't know Bertrand the Mouse, you can make friends with him on Instagram: bertrand_bryonyseries.

This mug was a Christmas gift one year. It's blue (of course), but it also has a copper band. I love the color copper. 

When I was in second grade at the former St. Bernard's School in Joliet, I often borrowed the copper crayon from my seatmate who had a box of Crayola 64 crayons. I only had a box of 48 (which only had gold and silver) but really wanted the 64 because of the copper.

Eventually, my parents did buy me a box - and I was super happy.

This holiday mug was a gift this year. Isn't it pretty with my tealight snow globe? How can anyone mind working at the computer early in the morning with this serene combination?

This is one of the plain white mugs that I keep at the office for whenever I (or a client or a co-worker) needs a cup of coffee. 

I'm a fan of white mugs - at least, white inside. I like the color contrast of a dark roast against the white, which adds to the pleasure of drinking the coffee. We feast with our eyes, too, right?

Jasmine brought me this mug last month. It came in my favorite shade of blue, and the child in me adores the metallic, a very attractive way to enjoy coffee in the early morning.

Daniel tends to walk off with my Nosferatu mug a lot because it holds a larger cup of coffee and not all the mugs in the house can hold that much.

The bottom is full of scratches from spoons where Daniel has stirred in his cream and sugar.

It features the classic Nosferatu scene of sunlight streaming through the window. Except the caption reads, "Must have coffee," and to the right, someone is indeed handing him a cup.

It's perfect for those mornings when I just can't wake up.

If I can find it. If it's not sitting in Daniel's room.

I won this at The Herald-News for a trivia contest (I think) early in 2014. It reminds me of a former co-worker who died quite unexpectedly a couple years ago since he presented it to me. I believe "Galaxy" was the name of a newsletter he helped write for the company that featured this logo.

Anyway, I used to talk to this co-worker when he took "smoke breaks" outside the building, and I took computer breaks by walking around the building.

I was invited to present at a career fair at this Lockport school a couple of years ago. This mug was part of the swag. It's very heavy and holds the heat well, perfect for keeping coffee warm.

This is a Saturday, writing darker fiction mug, also a present from Jasmine.

This is a good, all-purpose coffee mug whenever I need inspiration with my coffee, whether I'm writing features or fiction. It was a Christmas gift two years ago from WriteOn Joliet.

So there you have it! Some of the mugs that keep me company at my computer when I'm writing.