A Mug's Life

I met Sarah by chance visiting Whitstable where she had an exhibition for a few days in 2023, before realising I already followed her on Instagram. I bought her ‘Go For It’ sign and have loved everything she does since. 
Sarah began her embroidery company Thread The Word in 2020, unintentionally, having made some wedding gifts for friends & before she started looking for another job. COVID began and 6 years later Thread the Word has become a bit more than an unintentional career!
Sarah creates bespoke pieces; often incredibly thoughtful gifts for special occasions, as well as creating her own original work focused on sourcing vintage, leftover & waste fabric as the foundation for her work.
I knew she’d have excellent mugs & stories - we honestly could have chatted all day. There was one mug that I did want for myself & will be on the hunt for evermore. Cornishware please bring it back🌛
Sarah talks about friendship & how special it is to celebrate any milestone - from traditional milestones to your friends doing something cool, starting something new, to sending a fun message or photo as a reminder during a busy week. 
Here are the mugs talked about if you’d like to follow along: 
1.  Fortnum & Mason mug (a gift when Sarah moved to London) 
2.  Emma Bridgewater ‘Together We Rise, Sisters Stand Together’ mug 
3. Aston Pottery Safari mug - bought by her Mum to celebrate a big move whilst working with Juliet Travers & to celebrate Juliet’s Dazzle wallpaper 🦓
4. Emma Bridgewater ‘CREATE! for school readers’ competition mug 
5. T.G.Green (now Cornishware) moon mug found at Shepton Mallet flea market 
Some of her favourites: 
🛍️ Small businesses/independent shops: Kirsty Erskine-Hill, Cloth & Clay, Merry + Brite, Yonder Living, Lamb London
☕️🍞Dream pairing: tea & toast with jam (rhubarb & ginger)
🏝️Desert Island people: Dawn French & Meryl Streep
☕️ Tea: Clipper English breakfast 
Available on all platforms to watch or listen. Also linked in my bio 💫
We always love to hear what you think so let us know ☕️💗
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Trigger Warning: Medical procedure - discussion of Emma's experience with an ablation for Supra Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT) 14.53 - 19.30
I got to chat to potentially the queen of mugs herself, Emma Conway (@brummymummyof2 ) in her lovely kitchen . Emma is well known for her love of mugs; particularly for THE annual Halloween mug switchover in her seasonal mug display cupboard.  For now, it’s in an awkward time of year; ‘we're currently in a phase I don’t really like, which is just mugs’. 
We talk about how Emma’s mugs hold so many memories from trips they’ve been on as a family, to her favourite TV shows. If you’ve been looking for an episode, that really gets to the crux of the joy & feeling of cosiness that mugs can bring, then look no further. 
When we’re not chatting about mugs, we’re talking about when Emma became a Mumsnet employee for the day to meet Gary Barlow, how perimenopause made her feel like she was going crazy & how she switched to decaf due to a birth defect that found her differentiating ‘pond’ like decaf to the good ones.
Here are the mugs talked about, if you’d like to follow along: 
Disney World Mickey waffles mug (A mug tragedy 💔)
Disney World Enchanted Tiki Room mug 
Gilmore Girls Luke's Diner giant mug (gift from a friend)
Rae Dunn Winnie the Pooh mug
Some of her quick fire favourites:
✨Disney films: Enchanted & Tangled 
☕️🍪 Dream pairing: Costa Terry’s chocolate orange hot chocolate & cinnamon bun (ideally Disney World Gaston’s Tavern cinnamon roll)
📺TV Show: Any reality TV (Real Housewives, Summerhouse) 
🍿🎬 5 minutes in Blockbuster to pick four films: Titanic, Twilight, Practical Magic, Beaches 
🏝️ Desert island people: Gary Barlow, Louis Theroux, Ewan McGregor, Beyoncé, Gemma Collins, Sarah Jessica Parker
Available on all platforms to listen (Spotify/Apple) or watch (Spotify/YouTube). Also linked in my bio 💫
We always love to hear what you think so please let us know ☕️💗
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We’re back with season 4 & I couldn’t be more thrilled to be kicking it off with the wonderful Briony May Williams. A proud Bristolian, it was so lovely to be able to film here in Bristol too. As she came in I was greeted with her homemade lemon drizzle cake which tells you everything about the energy Briony brings with her!
You may know Briony from watching The Great British Bake Off series 9 where she was a semi-finalist & for her TV presenting on: Escape to the Country, Morning Live! and The Travel Show to name a few. She also co-hosts a parenting podcast I'm Not Judging, But... with two of her best friends, Charlie & Vix. 
Last year she launched a recipe book with twists on retro recipes, The Retro Recipe Society. She also has an instagram page - @gloriouslysober sharing advice & support as well as the joys of not drinking having not drunk alcohol for over two years. 
What you may not know about Briony is the mugs telling the story of her life so far, from playgroup, to teaching, to Bake Off & everything in-between. We also get right into the nitty gritty: the importance of mug choice & the mug cupboard structure to protect the most precious ones!
Here are the mugs talked about, if you’d like to follow along: 
1. Stoke Bishop Nursery Playgroup mug (40 years old!)
2. ‘Briony’ mug - a gift from her colleagues before she went on maternity leave 
3. ‘I’d rather be watching The Bake Off’ Stubbs mug bought for her as a gift
4. Gloriously Sober mug made for her by Rachel Bridgman Ceramics 
Some of her quick fire favourites:
☕️🍪 Pairings: Montezuma's dark chocolate buttons 
☕️ Barry's Tea 
🥐 Cafe: Coffi Lab , Bristol 
🏝️ Desert Island people: Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie, Dr Punam Krishan , Jessica Fostekew, Vix & Charlie 
Available on all platforms to listen (Spotify/Apple) or watch (Spotify/YouTube) 💫
We always love to hear what you think so please let us know ☕️💗
00:00 Intro
02:31 The mug selection process & policies  The mug selection process & policies 
03:19 The versatility of a mug - university memories 
06:57 A love of languages & Bake Off memories 
12:22 Auditioning & the Bake Off experience 
15:11 Mug #1 Stoke Bishop Nursery Playgroup 
19:58 The mug cupboard structure 
22:21 A coffee mug is NOT the same as a tea mug 
26:04 Mug #2 Briony's maternity leave gift from teaching colleagues 
32:56 Mug #3 I'd Rather Be Watching The Bake Off Stubbs mug bought for her as a gift
35:13 A wild journey since Bake Off 
37:01 The peaks & troughs of Bake Off 
38:02 Unexpected fans 
39:18 A love of travel 
41:14 Taking on new challenges & adventures 
45:17 Saying YES & going outside of your comfort zone 
46:16 Mug #4 Gloriously Sober mug by Rachel Bridgman Ceramics
51:48 Briony's recipe book - The Retro Recipe Society 
53:53 A vintage cookbook collector! 
55:46 Briony's Quick Fire Favourites
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Our final guest of Season 3 is the fantastic Rachel Atkinson, the founder of & actually a Daughter of a Shepherd. I hope you enjoy this warm & festive episode as much as I enjoyed recording it (you can expect quite a lot of laughter! 
Rachel shares the story behind her wool company Daughter of a Shepherd where she creates limited edition yarns. She focuses on natural colours of British fleece grown, gathered, and spun with 100% traceability (It’s celebrating its 10th anniversary this year 🥳). She grew up in Yorkshire where her Dad took on Shepherding as a hobby. Having always had a love for knitting & after her Dad received a 94p cheque from the British Wool Board for 450 fleeces, Rachel wanted to showcase wool’s provenance - bringing renewed value to it and shining a light on all of its qualities 🐑🧶.
When building Daughter of Shepherd at its core was supporting local manufacturing in the process, including scourers in Keighley & mills in Yorkshire/Devon. We talk about how important these crafts are & how supporting them is critical to ensure those skills are passed on.
Featured is Rachel’s beloved terrier, DeeDee. We also have a very special guest Bryan who will always bring Rachel a sheep themed mug with tea at work, alongside learning that there is a company doing tea rounds to your house (Ringtons Round) that visits towns/villages in Yorkshire & up North (and yes you can request it to visit your house!) with their tea van filled with choice - THE STUFF OF DREAMS ☁️✨
Here are the mugs talked about, if you’d like to follow along and see: 
The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) sheep mug - ‘look at this absolute unit’
Emma Bridgewater Bettys x Fat Rascal mug collaboration
Pip Hartle mug (for coffee!)
Russell Kingston mug (+ a bonus espresso mug)
Terry’s Chocolate mug from charity shop
Some of her quick fire favourites:
☕️Yellow bourbon coffee roasters, Ringtons tea
☕️🍪 Tea Pairings: plain digestives, chocolate hobnob, Tunnocks caramel wafer 
🩰 Ballets: Swan Lake, Song of the Earth, Wolf Works 
🧶🐏 Her favourite wool: Heritage DK - natural black 
🏝️Desert Island people: Nick Offerman, Seamus Heaney, Jemma (Harding) Wilkinson
🐾 Dee Dees favourite things: sausages 🌭 & the warmth 🔥
We always love to hear what you think so please let us know ☕️💗
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This month’s guest is the wonderful Alice Bugeja (@Aliceroserunner on instagram). Alice is the founder of mileoff, a running wear brand on a mission! To make the best performance wear for women in the world & to dare women to dream bigger. mileoff may well take over the world - and I can’t wait 👟☁️
Alice developed her brand over two years around her 9-5 before taking the leap in March this year and hasn’t looked back since. A viral video led their iconic vest becoming a highly coveted item, with creators & runners alike showcasing mileoff. Alice & mileoff’s collections sell out in minutes.
Alice shares an honest view as a solo founder, the source of her inspiration & how women are the driving force behind mileoff & every design (we need pockets!!): from being barred from marathons just 60 years ago to the lack of funding for female-owned brands there is still so much progress to be made.
What may come as a surprise to you in this episode, is that Alice doesn’t drink coffee, and not that much tea (living in Dubai & a hot climate is not really conducive to wanting a hot drink!) but she does have a mug which has been a big part of her story.
The one & ONLY:
1.Alice’s Dyson mug - a leaving gift from her colleagues 
Some of her quick fire favourites! 
👟Marathon destinations: Spain (Ibiza), Tokyo, New York 
☕️🍪Favourite pairing: custard creams 
🤝 💍Dream brand partner for mileoff - D Louise jewellery 
🏝️ Desert Island people: Grace Beverley, Phil Knight, Jamie Oliver 
🎙️Working Hard - Grace Beverley , Aspire with Emma Grede, Ladies who Launch - Rochelle Humes, Sweat Equity - Alex Garcia & Brian Blum, How to Fail - Elizabeth Day , Mel Robbins, Diary of a CEO - Stephen Bartlett
Available on all platforms now to listen (Spotify/Apple podcasts) or watch (Spotify/YouTube). 
We always love to hear what you think so please let us know ☕️💗
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