#BEDM - Collecting (& update on SL10K)

Today's BEDM topic is collecting.  Probably my most significant collection (other than books and music) are my Starbucks mugs from places I've traveled.

I started my mug collection in 2005 when I went to Australia and picked one up in Sydney (1).  I liked the mug because it had an image of the Harbour Bridge.  I don't think I realized that collecting these mugs was going to become my thing, because I would have picked up others when I was in Australia.  I do remember they had one for the province of Queensland, which I visited.  If I'd known I was going to become a collector, I would have gotten the Queensland mug.

My next two Starbucks mugs were purchased in the summer of 2006 when I went to the UK.  I got Wales (2) and London (3).

My first mug from Sydney, and my Wales mug.  They are from a very early collection of Starbucks mugs.  I love the Wales one because it has the word Wales both in English, and in Welsh (Cymru).  And since my paternal grandfather was Welsh, the Welsh dragon is a special symbol for me.

In summer 2007, I went to Vancouver and got the Stanley Park (4) mug.  Then, I went to Seattle (5) and got a Pike Place mug that commemorates the first Starbucks.  In the fall, I went to Montreal (6) and got a mug.

Pike Place mug.  The blue & white version of City Mugs is my least favourite.  

In 2008, I got a Central Park (7) mug in NYC.  I went to Texas and got ones for Austin (8), San Antonio (9) and Dallas (10).  My Dallas mug has a small crack in the handle now.  I once mentioned this to my friend Fea, who had a friend going to Texas for business.  As a nice surprise, Fea got her friend to buy me a new mug.  However, she thought it was my Austin mug that was cracked, so I have a second Austin mug.  (I keep it at work.  It reminds of good friends, rock 'n roll, and Austin which was my fave Texas city anyway.)  In the summer of 2008, I picked up a mug in San Francisco (11).

I went to NYC again in 2009, and got a different NYC mug (12).  If I go to a location and they have a new/different mug, I will buy it to commemorate a new trip.  2009 brought me to Paris (13) and Scotland (14).

In 2010, I visited Paris and Nice, so I got the France country mug (15).  I went to Boston over the summer and got a mug there (16).

In 2011 I added Barcelona (17), Niagara Falls (18) and Chicago (19) to the collection.  Becca T (who also collects these mugs) and I had a tough time finding the Barcelona one, but we did it!

Some of my favourites from Europe.

Some U.S. favourites.

In 2012 I visited Paris again and they had a new version of the Paris mug so I got that (20).  Also, I was going through a rough time, so my pal Claire mailed me the London/England demitasses in a care package.  In the summer I picked up a Twin Cities mug (21), I got a new Vancouver mug (22), and Vancouver Island mug (23).

Summer 2012 in mug form.

I have a friend at work who also collects Starbucks mugs from different locations.  He doesn't care if he's been there, so whenever I go somewhere I usually pick one up for him.  I have different rules for mine: I have to have visited the place myself in order to get a mug.  When I went to Texas, AlieMalie brought me the San Antonio mug, even though we weren't originally going to go there.  However, she had a work emergency, so we did end up driving to San Antonio for the afternoon and validating the mug, phew.

My friend from work went to Amsterdam this summer and brought me back a mug.  It was sweet, but in my head all I could think is that the rule has been broken!  However, I know I will go to Amsterdam someday (it's on my list), so the mug will get validated.  I will not use the mug until then though.  However, when I have a guest visit who's been to Amsterdam, they drink tea out of that mug.

Finally, in 2013 I've added Washington DC to the collection (24).

So that's my collection in total: 24 validated Starbucks mugs, one set of demitasses, 1 extra Austin mug, and 1 unvalidated mug from Amsterdam.

I like my collection even though it means that most of my kitchen cupboard space is taken up by mugs (some are on my desk though).  It's something fun and uniform to get from each travel location, and I use my mugs on a rotating basis when I feel like thinking of a certain place.  Or it's fun to just pick one randomly.  However, not all of the locations I've visited have mugs.  When I visited Ireland in 2006, they didn't have a mug yet.  No mug for Cuba, obviously.  No mugs either for the Maritime provinces, Cape Cod, Winnipeg, or Utah.  Maybe I should buy plain Starbucks mugs and paint them for those places, ha-ha.

***

Speaking of collections, I added another race medal to my medal collection today.  Today was the Sporting Life 10K, which I've really been looking forward to.

I was supposed to race with my friends Jolene and Heather, but Jolene sprained her ankle so it was only Heather and I.  Heather took the train in from London, ON for the night, and we had a nice Saturday shopping, going out for dinner, and going to bed super early. 

This morning was really cold and windy.  Not the ideal day for a race.  Spring, why have you forsaken us? 

However, I warmed up quickly once I started running.  I had a great run!  I was almost 6 minutes faster than I was last year!  My chip time was 1 hour 3 minutes and 34 seconds.  I was elated.  I was hoping to make it in at 1:05 or 1:06.  Super proud of my hard work!  It was a personal best by far.  I'd personally like to thank Yonge Street, for being so down hill.

In addition, my friends and family supported me greatly and I raised $270 for Camp Ooch by running today.  Here's an excellent article from the TO Star about why it's such a great charity.  I'm so glad that I was able to run for such a great cause today.  27 000 people registered for the race, and it was so awesome to run down Yonge street with so many people.

Stole this picture from the Nike Running Canada Twitter Feed.  It's awesome being in a crowd of so many runners.  This is the part of the course where you are heading downhill just before Mount Pleasant Cemetery (my usual training grounds).

I am definitely going to run the SL10K next year.  I'm hoping that next year I will finish in under an hour!  Better get back to training!