Lani Rosenstock Inlander is a professional style consultant and occasional guest blogger. Here, she talks about how she got started, what inspires her, and tips for summer dressing.

Please introduce yourself! Where are you from, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?

My name is Lani Rosenstock Inlander. I am the owner and chief stylist of Real Life Style, a style consulting firm in NY and DC.

How did you get interested in fashion?

The best I’ve ever been able to explain it is that I suddenly started reading fashion magazines incessantly in the 8th grade. I would memorize all of the designers’ lines to the point where if you opened up a page in Vogue I could tell you who designed the outfit.

What inspires you these days?

I would say travel is a big inspiration for me. I’m going to Argentina in October and I can’t wait to see the style in Buenos Aires. I’m told the leather goods are amazing and there are a ton of adorable boutiques just waiting to be discovered.

Any tips for looking good in the wilting heat of summer?

It is all about a dress and a stylish, comfortable sandal. Lipstick and mascara help too. Who can tell that the rest of your face has melted off if you have a long-wearing lipstick and waterproof mascara on?

I understand you use a Daily Pocket Diary to keep track of your schedule… Can you tell us how you use it? Do you write down lists and ideas or just record your appointments?

I am obsessed with my Daily Pocket Diary! I use the monthly planner in the front to keep track of which days I’m in NY or DC so that I can schedule with clients most efficiently. My schedule changes almost hourly so a paper diary and a sharp pencil (with an eraser!) are essential for me. I also use the daily pages for my to do list that day.

What other creative outlets do you have, aside from fashion?

I don’t sew but I like to make jewelry for myself and my clients.

Image via Search Engine People Blog

One thing that came up again recently is the monthly planning view. Some, but not all, of our daily and weekly formats have one, and a reader recently suggested that we work to bring the feature to those that don’t. In exchange, she suggested scrapping the address book:

I, personally, do not use the little address book in the back of the planner (I just add people and their contact information in my phone, and if I forget it, I have enough place on the day’s notes page to take note of it), or the maps. A couple of the notes pages is helpful. But taking out the address book and maps might be able to save about 6 sheets – enough to make monthly views.

What about it? Are you dying to add a monthly view to your daily or weekly format of choice? Would you be willing to scrap the address book to get it?

Image via DraconianRain

We got an email recently on a topic I haven’t blogged about in years: what day does your week begin? It’s a topic people get passionate about, and rightly so — if you’re used to one monthly view, it’s very hard to switch to a different scheme. I use wall calendars for long-view planning and still get thrown by the one I have this year, which was a gift from a friend and which starts on Sunday. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve entered stuff on Friday thinking it’s Saturday!

For our correspondent, though, it was the other way around:

I have screwed up the first 8 weeks of this year because when I look at a monthly block Wednesday is the 3rd day of the week but the 4th day in a monthly format. I have missed 6 standing appointments looking at my block plan.

As I mentioned in 2007, we hew to the European convention that the week starts on Monday and runs through Sunday; the only Sunday-to-Saturday planner that we offer is the Visoplan, which is a monthly planner.

What day does your week start?

On July 19, 2010 Amazon.com, Inc. said it had reached a milestone, selling more e-books than hardbacks over the last three months.

Amazon painted a picture of accererating growth in the the sales of e-books, which can be read on its Kindle device and through software on a host of other devices, including Apple’s iPad and iPhone. Competitor Barnes and Noble offers nook. 

In June, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had claimed that his company’s iBookstore, which had launched in April, had taken over 20% of the market.

Publishers said it is too early to tell whether the growth of e-books is also impacting the sales of softcover books, a huge and crucial market.

Mike Shatzkin, CEO of The Idea Logical Company, which advises book publishers on digital change, said “this was a day that had to come.” Mr. Shatzkin predicts that within a decade, fewer than 25 percent of all books sold will be print versions. Book lovers mourning the demise of hardcover books with their heft and musty smell need a reality check, he warned.

I discussed the impact of Kindle and nook at the Quo Vadis annual meeting in June. It is not so much the proliferation of electronic devices that worries me, since we have lived with them and computer calendar programs for ten years now.

My worry is the loss of bookstores – both chains and independents – and other places that sell books and related paper products like planners and journals. The more we go electronic, the fewer places there will be to buy paper. Many of the independents we do business with are worried; increasingly they have to deal with rising rent and declining foot traffic.

How do you see this Amazon milestone impacting your life?

At the moment, we sell our staplebound Basics notebooks either singly or in “duo packs” of two books. There are four different cover colors, and our current duo packs bundle them together in black + tan and red + green covers.

Recently, though, we noticed that an Australian vendor is selling custom-made duo packs with two books of the same color. And so we got to thinking: what are the best color combinations for a duo pack? Black is the most popular color on an individual basis; should we encourage people to branch out with duo packs of black + red or black + green? What about tan + red or green?

What color combinations would you most like to see?

Our web designer’s just launched a project to take this blog mobile (along with Rhodia Drive), and make it easier to read on mobile browsers… we’ve tested it on iPhones and Blackberries, but please let us know if you have any issues on your own cell phone/mobile device.

The YouTube clips don’t seem to embed properly, but everything else should be there.

Thanks, and happy browsing!

Image via tsuacctnt

Thanks to everyone who participated in our Bastille Day giveaway — we had more than 90 entries! Winners were selected randomly; their names… drumroll please…

TAO
Ryan
Katy
Joy
Dominic
Eric C
Richard
John (this one, not that one)

If your name is on this list, we’ve already sent you an email, so be sure to write back and give us your address! Otherwise, check back again soon for more giveaway goodies.

Bonne fête!

I confess: I am an inveterate yard sale, junk shop, used bookstore, antique store, tag sale, estate sale, flea market shopper.  I am forever on the lookout for the lost treasure–hidden from all eyes but mine. I have often wondered what attracts me…and with no other outstanding answer, have put it down to the love of the smell of old paper; an appreciation of objects and people that have been a part of history; and a hopeless hope to find at least one piece of the family silver.  My uncle sold it decades ago, and I have always mourned its loss.

Each year the Orient, NY Congregational Church (founded in the early 19th c.) sponsors a yard sale featuring old books in excellent condition.  Working for a stationery company, I am always on the lookout for old agendas, diaries and journals. On Saturday I went home with my latest find:  The Wanamaker Diary 1937. My book is unmarked. There’s a mystery – someone kept it all these years.

The Wanamaker Diary was issued by Wanamaker’s Department Store, Broadway & 8th Street, in Manhattan.  Intended as a recordkeeping book and souvenir, it is crammed with information, advice, and facts about New York, including seating charts for theaters and stadiums in the city.  It has whole sections on astronomy, astrology, legal holidays, receipts and payments pages. Ads, of course! Each page is numbered. The binding is perfect and the pages have a slight tinge of yellow. Only its charm betrays its age.

I particularly enjoyed this piece of trivia on the page for January 19/20: “The paper on which Bank of England currency is printed is made from white linen rags, formerly obtained from English shirts when discarded. Today, however, practically every Englishman wears colored shirts. The result is foreign shirts, mostly from France, where white linen is still genteel, are relied upon in the making of bank notes. The worn out shirt of a French peasant is sent to the Laverstoke mill and turned into Bank of England notes.”

Wanamaker’s Department Store was founded in Philadelphia in 1887.   Wanamaker’s sent buyers overseas to Europe to scout for the latest trends and luxuries. They expanded to New York City in 1896. News of the Titanic’s sinking was transmitted to Wanamaker’s wireless station on the roof of the New York store and given to anxious crowds waiting outside.  A famous landmark in Manhattan, the store was razed by fire in 1956, 34 years after the death of its founder, John Wanamaker.

The Wanamaker Diary was printed by Cary Press Corporation, 406 West 31st Street, New York.  That’s just two blocks from where I work at Exaclair.  I’ll have to walk over this week and see who’s there.

I’ve already gotten a lot of use out of my Monthly 4 garden planner, which helped me figure out when to start my seeds and put stuff in the ground this spring.

In many ways, though, it’s next year things will really pay off, because I’ve also started using it to record when things are actually ripe. Last year was something of an anomaly because of all the cool, wet weather we had in June and July. But I could have sworn I had ripe tomatoes by this time two years ago! Yet here this year’s plants sit, with promising green clusters…

At least I know I started them on time.

Image via notfrancois

As many of you know, today is Bastille Day en France, and to celebrate, we’re giving away Habanas to 8 lucky recipients!

We’ve got one blank and one ruled version in each cover color — black, red, raspberry, and lime — and to keep things fair (and simple), we’ll send one at random to each of our 8 winners.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post before Friday at 12:00 am EST. We’ll select the winners at random, and follow up via email to sort out addresses and such. So please don’t forget to include an email address when you comment! (Don’t worry, it won’t be published.)

Bonne chance!

UPDATE: Congratulations to our winners, TAO, Ryan, Katy, Joy, Dominic, Eric C, Richard, and John!