A diet Coke to fall in love with...

It's been a busy January for me so far - today I'm preparing the mailing for the print edition of Soda Pop Dreams Magazine, and over the next week or two, I'll be putting the finishing touches on our first 'everything Pepsi' Soda Spectrum Series magazine (also a print publication). So far, the Pepsi mag has been a blast since it's the first time I've done a magazine dedicated solely to Pepsi collectors. Some very unique collectibles, that's for sure. Tons of fun and some excellent articles - be sure to check it out!

Erin and I just bought our first house this week and you know what that means - yep - my very own office/soda collectibles room in the basement!! That also means that the boxes of memorabilia that have been hidden in our storage unit will also be brought out too. Lots of cans, bottles, and old soda signs will happily find a new home in, um, our new home. :)

No doubt the pic at the top of this page made you say 'ewwww'. Most of you know my obsession with diet Coke (we'll refer to it as the 'DC' here)... I LOVE diet Coke, diet Coke with Lime, but despise diet Coke with Lemon (now defunct), and I'm definitely not a fan of 'DC' with Splenda. But how about mixing my two favorites - DC and............. bacon. Now THERE'S a winning flavor combination.

Take care, happy collecting, and we'll chat with you in the pages of our print editions.

Big Cola Smooch From Marilyn Monroe

Beverage currently consuming: Diet Pepsi from 10 oz. glass bottle

Apparently Mentor, Ohio is a hotbed of activity for Marilyn Monroe fans... and we all know that she loved Coca-Cola. Oh, you didn't know? Me either. But an eBay seller has the goods on Marilyn's cola preference and he has a 1950s Vendo 110 Coke machine to prove it.

This 5-day eBay auction has so far grabbed 19 bids with a current high bid of $859.00 US funds (below the reserve price with only 4 hours left to go).

Here's a description from the listing: "Her lip imprint is still on the machine. I know it is hard to believe and NO I do not have the matching potato chip with her resemblance. Just look at the top right corner of the machine. Her lip print is still visible after all of these years. Now I do not have a picture of Marilyn Monroe kissing the machine, but I can tell it is her lip print..."

Very clever, but hardly the kind of thing that will draw attention to the auction and help the machine sell. But, considering the counter on the page is at 820 (and eBay logs auction searches based on keywords in their titles), I could be wrong. So if it's not an authentic Marilyn Monroe pair of lip marks adorning this Coke machine, whose is it?