My vacation to-do list keeps growing, and nothing gets checked off. It's not as if I hadn't known for weeks that this trip was coming. Details had mulled around in my head - stop the newspaper, finish work projects, pick up hostess gifts, get my daughter's school supplies... but the tasks kept popping back out of my head before I had them captured on paper.

We (my husband, daughter and I) are taking off this week on a flight from New York to California to pick up a car and then take 13 days to drive the car back to New York. Along the way, we are planning to see family, some famous icons such as Zion National Park and Mount Rushmore, and some more obscure places, such as a Minuteman Missile Site, the Spam Museum and a little know ghost town.

As the day of departure draws closer, it starts to feel stifling, like I can't relax until I get all the details taken care of. So I started carrying around a small, purse sized, flexible cover Black ‘n Red notebook that allows me to jot down the things down I need to be doing. I can whip it out in the car (when I'm not driving, of course), wherever something comes to my mind.

More fun, though, is to use the notebook to plan our stops - hotel phone numbers, admission prices, mileage between stops. Everything related to this trip, from the preparation lists to promotional brochures is in the notebook, even small cards and receipts, held in with the bungee. So easy to carry. Now I just need to be sure to use it. I'll keep you posted!