Fall doesn't officially start until Sept. 21, but in most parts of the country kids already are back in school.

This summer I attended a seminar, Planet Teen, about the tween/teen consumer and learned a few things, one being that tween/teen girls see back to school as the time to organize their rooms and to redecorate.

According to a poll Seventeen magazine conducted on its Web site, and presented at the seminar, 31% of its readers (girls 12–21 with the average age being 16) said they think about changing their room decor once a week and 43% said their rooms reflect their personal style.

Check out my blog, Live from NY, on the Kids Today Web site for more info on the seminar.

While you're there you should stop by Kelly Nelson and Aaron Pederson's blogs as well. Kelly and Aaron are covering some pretty interesting topics each week. Aaron's touched on the consumer's (and his) fascination with celebrities and what they buy for their babies, and Kelly posted about taking a vacation when almost the entire family works in the business.

For those of you reading the blogs, don't forget to register to post comments. The whole idea of blogging is to open a dialogue on the things everyone in the industry is thinking and going through, so log on and share your ideas.

Sandy Buttrill, owner of Kidspace, our cover story this month, shared many of her ideas with us. I had dinner with Sandy and her daughter Kathy and son Stephen this summer and it was quite a treat. Not only am I amazed at the families that can and do work together, but the ideas that flow among the generations certainly help grow the business.

For those of you who know Sandy, you know that you couldn't find a more personable or astute business person. She's had a lot of great ideas but the best advice she offered is something that's applicable to just about anyone anywhere — "Every night evaluate what you accomplished that day. You traded one day in your life for it, was it worth the trade?"

What have you done lately that was worth trading in a day?