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Mug Shots

I was recently asked to help a friend with some mug shots. No, she was not arrested. She was asked by Good Housekeeping to provide some photographs of her beloved Wonder Woman mug and I happened to be around with my camera.

Nilofer Merchant & Mug photo Marie Cameron 2012

When asked by Gretchen what makes her happy, Nilofer shared that drinking coffee from her Wonder Woman mug that was given to her as a gift by her step daughter had turned into a real source of pleasure.

An innovator in business thinking in the new social network climate,  Nilofer Merchant has authored The New How, #SocialEra and Yes & Know. As a writer, corporate director and speaker, she is a dynamic person – a real wonder woman! No wonder Gretchen Rubin, author of the Happiness Project wanted to talk with her, to provide some insight into where this Silicon Valley mover and shaker finds her happiness! In the interview, http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2010/01/wonder-woman-rumi-and-erin- Nilofer had mentioned this mug. Good Housekeeping needed some pics for their January issue, so, I got to work with my camera. I bet it has something to do with New Year’s resolutions – don’t we all long to tap into that inner Wonder Woman (or Superman)!

Wonder Woman Mug Transformation photo Marie Cameron 2012


I love the transformation of business woman to Wonder Woman on Nilofer’s Mug!

Shiny Wonder Woman Mug photo Marie Cameron 2012


Maybe we are what we drink from – it worked for Nilofer Merchant!

I thought about what mug I like to drink from in my daily ritual and what it means to me.  My favorite cup (part of a pair – one green, one blue but I exclusively use the green one) was a given to me as a wedding present by a dear friend from art school.  The cup is lined with polka dots and covered with playful naked people cavorting about and was made by a potter in Scotland. I find it beautiful, arty and celebratory and I love how it fits in my hands. What makes it really special though is the fact that someone I care about gave me the gift which says she knows the real me, that she sees who I am, that she gets me – and I get to drink from that gift every day!  Sometimes a cup is more that a cup!

Celadon Cup with Handle- photo Marie Cameorn 2012


My favorite cup was a gift from a dear friend from art school – we share a similar aesthetic appreciation.

Celadon Cup - photo Marie Cameron 2012


I love the color, the craquelure glaze and playful union of people on this handmade Scottish cup.

Is there a special mug or cup that you chose to drink from, and have you thought about why?

 

  1. Gorgeous, the lipstick on the rim. Says so much about Nilofer Merchant, that she’d drink out of this sort of cup, sip from something so fanciful in her day to day life. Fantastic! Love your meditation on what it says, on what we choose to drink our warm beverages from. These days I’m drinking coffee out of bone china coffee cups and tea out of fine and delicate bone china tea cups. The china holds the heat and when it’s November, every bit of heat is needed, the luke warm beverage something thrown back to summer, to warmer days. Curious how I love the feel of gilded bone china between my lips, so soft and delicate and yet so strong and dense.

  2. mariecameron says:

    I can see you drinking from gilded bone china Christy Ann! Not only do the pretty antiques hold a hope of a story from another time, which I know you appreciate as writer who sets her novels with one foot in the past, but they’re made from animal bones. Something sweet, something old and something very proper with an unseemly underside.

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