The Gracious Girl

What? Take to the Table Tuesday, on a Friday?

What can I say Gracious Girls, I live on the edge {wink}!

As many of you know, I am a brand ambassador for Sheaffer Pen, who just-so-happens to be celebrating 100 years of pen making this year.

And all the ladies say, “Congratulations Sheaffer!”

In preparing to help them celebrate, I did a little research about their rich history. This research lead to many past articles from the Sheaffer Newsletter and one of my favorite ongoing columns was titled “Strictly for Ladies” … you could say they had me at “Lady”

One day while researching, I stumbled across this recipe for banana cake and I just had to try it…

putting my own Gracious Girl spin on it. Of course I asked for permission first.

Are you ready to get started? My first stop was to favorite local market where I always find the freshest organic ingredients…

but before heading inside, I had to stop to smell the peonies. Don’t you love peonies? They are my favorite.

Cake? Oh yes, back to the banana cake.

After I had all of my ingredients, I made my way home to get started.  If it was gracious to gloat I might tell you, “this cake is melt in your mouth amazing.” Since it isn’t gracious, I’ll keep it to myself and let you be the judge.

In getting started, this is what you’ll need for the Gracious Girl Gluten-Free | Banana Cream (I added the cream) Cake.

• 1 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup soft buttah (or you can say butter, I just find it not nearly as fun)
• 2 eggs (brown organic)
• 6 Tablespoons (low fat organic) sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups (Bob’s Red Mill) All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
• pinch of salt
• 3 bananas

Cream sugar and butter in a mixer. Add eggs and sour cream. Sift together flour and baking soda, three times and add your dry mixture to milk and sugar. Next, mix-in baking powder and pinch of salt. Finally mash your bananas and mix it all together well. Bake in two 9 inch rounds / 9×9 square pans on 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. You know the drill {wink}!

Allow to cool.

Now, for the icing on the cake… or should I say Vanilla Whipped Cream

• 2 cups organic whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• Whip with a hand mixer until the cream forms stiff peaks!
• 1/2 - 1 cup toasted coconut shavings

Next layer the cake by generously frosting the first layer with whipped cream and banana slices. Top the first layer with the second cake and frost with the second half of the whipping cream. Decorate with sliced bananas and toasted coconut shavings.

I sliced a piece just for you. I know you prefer just a sliver, but trust me, you’ll want more.

Enjoy and again “Happy Anniversary Sheaffer Pen!!!!!”

… and many more!

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For me, one of the best aspects of motherhood is the opportunity to pass on history and tradition to my girls.

Boston is the perfect city for passing on history and tradition with places at our fingertips such as…

Paul Revere’s House

USS Constitution

Bunker Hill

and Cannolis in the North End. Okay so not exactly history… but delicious.

Along with these historical landmarks and tasty treats, we also celebrated traditions.

Traditions of sending our adventures in writing. Our first couple of days Elle loved collecting the cards from around the city and then during one of my meetings she sat quietly and wrote her friends and family. She was so proud of the process and excited to pop them in the mail. While this might seem like ONE more thing to do on a vacation, it really only takes a few minutes and a couple of dollars. The value of the tradition is worth the effort.

We also felt it was important for us to exercise the tradition of paying our respects to the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings.

While very somber and sad, sometimes life is about putting our own needs and comfort aside to stand in silence to show we care.

How do you like to share history and pass on tradition to your children? Please do share.

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When Elle was six years old I made a promise to her, “For your 10th birthday, I will take you to New York for the National Stationery Show.”

This is the year and this is our time.

Today, bright and early we embarked on our adventure with our first stop in Boston, then #Brimfield and finally NYC!

We set out, just the three of us.

flew across the country.

If you ask Elle she will tell you it “took one million hours”

if you ask our pilot he will tell you “seven.”

No matter the time, we arrived all smiles.

There are so many aspects of this trip that I am looking forward to. I can’t wait to share one-on-one mother daughter time and to introduce Elle to the work I do when I travel to the East Coast.

I hope you’ll join along on our adventure…

as together we explore the North East, Gracious Girl style!

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I’m having a party and I hope you will join me.

At first I thought about paper invites–because I love them so–but feared I might forget someone. So I decided to let this little birdy share the news…

You might be wondering, “what’s a twitter party?”

A fair question

Here’s the scoop.

A twitter party is fun conversation typically focused on a topic and is a great way to engage with people/brands. Think of it like a party. A party where you can wear your pjs and no one will know.

In this case the topic is around celebrating the handwritten word. Who doesn’t love a handwritten note?

Ready to get down to the nuts and bolts of the chat?

I suggest using a hashtag tracking system like TweetGrid.

Pick the 1×2 and login. It will look like this…

only instead of TheGraciousGirl you will add your twitter handle.  The beauty of this grid is that it allows us to track tweets, easily comment and engage.

Wondering what to say? Don’t worry, I will be there — along with our panel of industry experts– with questions and topics to spark conversation.

All you have to do is jump in! Or should I say, tweet in.

Oh but wait, there’s more! You can also enter to win one of our amazing giveaways:

A Sheaffer ‘Friends of Winter’ three piece pen set or a fabulous Ice London Key Chain and Sheaffer Pen duo set.

Um, hello?!

How to enter? It’s easy, upload a picture to twitter with the hashtag #handwriting or upload them to The Gracious Girl’s facebook page.  The picture just has to be something #handwriting related: stationery, your desk, favorite letter received or letter someone sent long ago that has been passed down.  Anything that reminds you of the handwritten word. Winners will be drawn at random and announced during the party.

So there you have it, it’s easy and simple. However, if you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’m here and listening.

We look forward to seeing you tonight!

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