Erin Akin Carroll

This is a very special edition of Mom-Style Monday. I want to share a fantastic, comfortable, stylish line of clothes with all of you. I have to admit that I’ve kind of been keeping it a secret because I wanted to be unique with a couple of items in my closet, but I can’t keep it a secret anymore!

Tracy Negoshian makes comfortable, stylish, quality, and affordable garments for women of all ages. I first saw Tracy Negoshian pieces at the Junior League of Columbia Holiday Market in December 2009 and snatched up two dresses for myself.

I have this Betsy dress in black/red and aqua/brown. I wore it to a Christmas party. I wear it to run errands. I wear it with leggings when I’m hanging out at home with Hudson.

If you look through Tracy’s website, you’ll notice that many of the tunics and dresses are in SEC team colors (shown below). This is not a coincidence.

shown: Michelle tunic in colors appropriate for LSU, University of Georgia, Auburn University, and University of Florida

In fact, there’s a great story behind Tracy Negoshian’s clothes. I had the privilege of speaking with Tracy on Friday and got to hear her amazing story that she wanted to share with all of you.

Tracy Negoshian attended the University of South Florida. She was a Marketing major and worked three jobs to put herself through school. After college, Tracy moved to Palm Beach by herself and lived in a 600 square foot apartment a couple of blocks from the ocean and Worth Avenue.

Tracy didn’t have a job and wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do, so she set out with her resume in hand to find a job. She walked down Worth Avenue in Palm Beach and went into the stores looking for job opportunities. She ended up getting a job at Saks Fifth Avenue as an assistant in the Designer Salon. For three and a half years she organized trunk shows and various other events for the Designer Salon and even got to meet designers like Michael Kors and members of the Missoni family.

Tracy started to want more out of her career, so she went into Sales and worked in the Contemporary department. She became a personal shopper for the most elite clients in Palm Beach. She had great experiences wardrobing closets and helping women find the best clothes for their needs. She didn’t have the money to afford the many of the clothes at Saks, so Tracy would typically shop at bargain stores.  One day, she went to K-Mart and bought three wrap dresses.  She wore one of the K-Mart wrap dresses to work the next day and accessorized it with a Target necklace. Her clients loved it and all wanted to know where Tracy got the outfit! They couldn’t believe it came from K-Mart.  Ironically, some of her clients whispered that they would like her to go buy them similar dresses.

Tracy has always been drawn to color and prints. She is a huge fan of Emilio Pucci because of the fun colors and prints.

After a while, she got an offer from a prestigious Palm Beach family to come work for them, so she left Saks Fifth Avenue.

In the meantime, University of Florida was headed to the National Championship game in 2006 against Ohio State. Tracy attended the game with her family. Her mom wore a rhinestone studded Gator shirt and all the women loved it and wanted to know where she got it. Tracy had a thought, “I can do better than that.” She realized that there was a wide-open space for affordable, stylish, comfortable clothing for women as well as stylish game-day apparel.

So Tracy picked up and moved home to Dade City, Florida and started My Team Boutique and created football jersey wrap tops appropriate for the fans of the University of Florida, Florida State University, University of South Florida, and the University of Georgia. Her first line was produced in India and shipped out of her parent’s home with Tracy fulfilling each order herself. The college licensing process became an issue, so Tracy decided to go a different route.

She decided to brand herself and still do college-inspired apparel with team colors and fun prints. Because the college football season is only 3 months of the year, Tracy needed a product for the other 9 months.

So that’s when Tracy got where she is today with these wonderful dresses that are perfect for college game-day and dresses that are perfect for a day of errands or a night of fun! Her garments are similar to Lilly Pulitzer and Tory Burch while only being a fraction of the price.

Tracy produces a quality garment that is easy to wear and won’t break the bank. And it makes women feel good about themselves. Her clothes are sold in 300 boutiques around the United States and Puerto Rico.

At only 28 years-old, I think she has quite a lot to be proud of!

Tracy Negoshian is giving one lucky Blue-Eyed Bride reader their choice of one of the Tracy Negoshian dresses or tunics.

To enter, visit the Tracy Negoshian online catalog and choose your favorite dress or tunic. Leave a comment on my blog telling me your favorite style and color.

The winner will be chosen randomly on Friday and notified here on my blog. I’ll ask the winner to email me with her sizing information and Tracy Negoshian will ship your garment as soon as possible.

To be notified of all Tracy Negoshian promotions and updates, join the Tracy Negoshian Facebook fan page.

A couple of letters on this Mother’s Day.

Dear Mom,

Thank you. It’s so hard to even start with the thank yous to you because I’m not sure which is the most important. Are the little thing or the big things the best? I’m not sure, but I know that you were there for all of it.

Thank you for singing to me when I was little. Thanks for teaching me about Jesus. Thank you for all of the sacrifices you made just to do the little things for me like staying up all night to make my pilgrim costume in kindergarten and “volunteering” to play the piano for my school plays.

Thank you for recognizing the moments when I need a little pick-me-up and sending me a “beach vacation in a box” with a little bit of sand, some flip flops, and Bobbi Brown “Beach” lotion.

Thank you for reminding me to set high standards for myself in relationships, jobs, and daily life. Thank you for crying when I cry and always being such a strong source of reason for me.

Thank you for holding me tight on the day I was born and holding me tight in those dark hours after my first born arrived. It was a time of such melancholy feelings with the extreme joy of Hudson’s arrival and extreme fear and being overwhelmed. But only you could understand and help me to get through it.

Thank you for being there to listen to me talk every single day when I know that some days you just want to do something else. Anything else!

Thank you for loving my family and me and always treating me like your little girl while still treating me with respect and dignity.

I love you. I hope I can be half the mother that you were to me.

Love,

Erin

and another…

Dearest Hudson,

Thank you for your precious little life.

Thank you for waking up every morning with the happiest, infectious little grin on your face. Seeing you every morning is the perfect way to start the day and any time I walk into the room you let me know that you’re happy I’m there. What a great feeling!

Thank you for your sweet, sensitive spirit. Your little heart breaks when we tell you “no,” but you are so easily soothed when you get a hug from your daddy and me.

Thank you for introducing me to the true feelings of sacrificial love. I’d do anything for you and your health and happiness.

Thank you for that precious giggle that makes us giggle, too. It’s such a sweet sound to hear your happiness and it warms my heart to watch you observe and appreciate the things around you.

Thank you for your curiosity- it has helped me to learn more about the world and God’s beautiful creation. Seeing things through your eyes has been an eye-opening experience and I love every day because you’re in the world.

Thank you for being such a unique little boy and for being your innocent, beautiful self.

Thank you for saying, “mama.” It’s such a sweet sound to me.

Thank you for making me a mother. I’m lucky to be your mama.

Love,

Mama

I always think it’s difficult to find the perfect card for Todd. We have lots of inside jokes and I struggle with finding something that he’ll laugh at and think is sweet and a good representation of our relationship.

I found the perfect anniversary card on Etsy from a little shop called Storeyshop.

I’m a tweeting machine and Todd isn’t on Twitter, so he doesn’t understand the gravitational pull that Twitter has on me. But I wanted him to be sure that he knows how I feel about him. Hee hee!

Storeyshop has so many more cute designs and sayings that I thought I’d share with you.

And for my cheese-loving friend, Kate, to give her to husband.

I’d like to call myself a frequent flyer. I do it much less often than I used to, but I still fly about once every other month. When you’ve lived far away from your parents for years, flying is the safest way to get there. I even fly with a baby which, in some cases, is a passenger’s worst nightmare.

I’m here to tell you that my sweet, sometimes fussy, baby boy is much better behaved than some of the barbarians we encountered on our trip this week.

None of the things I’m about to tell you are new or unique to our trip to New York. In fact, we noticed it just as much when we landed in Columbia last night.

1. Trams. This is just like the elevator rule. If the elevator stops and you’re waiting to get on, stand away from the doors so that the people that are already on the elevator can step off. Are there really people that weren’t taught this? My parents used to pull us back away from the elevator doors so people could get off. Last night in Atlanta, we had 10 minutes to get from Concourse T to Concourse A and get on our plane and we couldn’t get off the cock-a-doo-dee tram because the people on the other side of the door were trying to push their way onto the tram. Of course, I asked them to move back and embarrassed TC, but seriously. Back up!

2. Baggage claim. Here’s the baggage claim rule: stand back away from the carousel. When you see your bag, you step up and get your bag off the carousel and step back again. At LaGuardia and at the Columbia airport, the vultures just crowded around the carousel. I guess they’re worried that five seconds may pass between the time they see their bag and actually pick up their bag, so they need to stand as close to the carousel as possible. We always stand back until we see our bags and then have to knock elbows with people to squeeze through the crowd to grab our bag. But we refuse to conform to the ways of the vultures that rush the carousel.

3. Carry-on luggage. I know it’s expensive to check bags now, but if you’re going to carry-on, make sure that you have your one bag and one personal item and nothing else. It is not acceptable to ask the nice man sitting next to you if you can store your brand new handbag (still in its box) under his seat because it won’t fit under yours.

Also- if you’re storing your luggage in the over-head bin, try to do it above your seat or in front of your seat– not behind. The deplaning process is seriously slowed down by those folks who have to walk toward the back of the plane to retrieve their bags.

Here’s a tip: travel light! Even when I travel alone with Hudson, I have two carry-on items: the diaper bag and Hudson. When it’s our turn to get up and get out of the seat, I pick him up and pick up the bag and we’re gone.

And when you’re wheeling your carry-on bag through the airport, be mindful of whose feet you’re rolling over. Pretty sure this doesn’t just apply to airports.

4. Be quick. Move along. Even Emily Post says, “When boarding, find your seat and sit down as quickly as possible so as not to keep those behind you waiting in the aisle.” Thank you, Emily. I love you.

And then at security, you know the drill. Take off your jacket and your shoes. Remove any metal from your pockets. If you think your belt will cause the alarm to go off, then take it off, too. Keep your boarding pass with you to pass through security. Let’s just get through it before my flight leaves!

5. Reclining. Is it really necessary? You gain about an inch or two by reclining, but the poor guy behind you. Your seat is now in his face.

6. Arm rests. This one is touchy, but I’m going to say it. I paid for my arm rest and my space between those two arm rests. So I’m going to put the arm rest down in order to designate my space. If you need for me to keep my arm rest up so you can fit into your seat, then you should probably pay for two seats. I’m not trying to sound intolerant because I’m not intolerant. But if I have to be trapped in a tiny space for two hours, I’d like to get all of the space I paid for and be as comfortable as possible.

And those are my tips on airport and airplane etiquette. Have I missed anything? What would you add?

I am the most tolerant person you’ll ever meet when it comes to babies; sleeping babies, screaming babies, happy babies. I like to offer to help the mothers if they’re traveling alone and understand that there’s not a whole lot the parents can do to help their child when they’re at 10,000 feet. But adults? Adults know better.