The more “free” time I have, the harder it is for me to get things done.

Since I left my job at Thomas Nelson three weeks ago, I have felt more behind than ever. My inbox certainly isn’t anywhere near zero. My blog has been for-all-practical-matters abandoned. And my life, and my home, are just plain messy.

I wouldn’t say I have been wasting time…exactly.

In fact, my priorities seem crystal clear.

For once in my life, I haven’t been all about “getting things done.” But rather “loving others well.”

And so I’ve chosen waiting in line in the Texas heat so that my three nieces can experience the magic that is an In-N-Out burger,  juggling two leashes and my favorite 3-almost-4 year old for an evening stroll around the block so that the dogs can go “poopie”, and listening to Macon {the 9-year-old skeptic} and Anne Shelton {the 7-year-old daredevil} recount their first-and-totally-epic trip to Six Flags Over Texas.

And hopefully the other things can wait…

Do you have a hard time getting things done in your “free” time?

Tomorrow I am packing up my car and my dog and heading to Texas for three weeks.

Three weeks.

I haven’t spent that much time in Texas in the last ten years. And of course, I pick three of the hottest weeks of the year. {I need to have my head checked.}

“Why would you submit yourself to such torturous heat and humidity?,”  you ask.

Well, several reasons.

First and most importantly, I am going to spend some quality time with the family. While my immediate family is typically spread across the Southern half of United States, for the month of July everyone is congregating in Dallas. And I realized this might be my only opportunity to experience a true “summer vacation” with my three adorable-but-growing-like-weeds nieces. I am stoked to be a part of their daily lives for several weeks.

I want to hang out with friends, old and new. There are a host of people in Texas that I love that I never get to see. I hope over the next few weeks I can change that.

I need to get out of Nashville and force myself to find some time and space to dream. So far, my job search has consisted of me reacting to one opportunity or another. Don’t get me wrong, I realize how extraordinarily blessed I am to have opportunities to react to. But I also know how desperately I need to pause, take deep breaths and allow myself to process through what I want my life, and my next career move, to look like. Even though it totally freaks me out.

And lastly, I am attending the Echo Conference. Some of my favorite creatives are descending upon Dallas, Texas, from July 27th to the 29th. And you all know, I am a girl who hates missing a good conference.

I am going to miss Nashville, my church, my friends, my people, but I am sure looking forward to my Texas-sized road trip.

So, the question of the day is, what music, podcasts and/or audio books do you recommend for my road trip tomorrow? 

Oh, and if you are in Texas. Look me up. I would love to see you!

The arrival of In-N-Out Burger to North Texas has prompted happy tears, 3 hour drive-thru lines, and even made Frisco and Allen popular tourist donation for hungry Oklahomans craving a Double-Double. But it has me completely stressed out.

Now I LOVE In-N-Out. And I LOVE North Texas. But I fiercely believe that every once in a while TWO RIGHTS make a WRONG.

Here is where the tension lies. I am headed to Dallas tonight and can only stay for 2 and a half days. And Texas is the home of so many incredible culinary experiences that I can’t figure out how to work in a trip to In-N-Out into my already overcrowded eating schedule.

I believe with your prayers and advice I can surely figure this out, but it is going to be STRESSFUL.

Here’s the question..If you were in Dallas for two and a half days, which restaurants would you have to visit?

Or…What’s your In-N-Out order?

Today is one of those days where I have a thousand different thoughts circling around in my head and so instead of fleshing one out to make a tidy little post, or not blogging at all (which is the more likely alternative), you are going to get a whole bunch of randomness.

Last night I got to help out with Cross Point’s new internet campus. I am such a huge fan of my church and so I am stoked that they have created a way for me to share the experience with friends and family who aren’t in Nashville. Be sure tune in with us next Sunday night at 6 PM CST at http://www.crosspoint.tv/live.

I am so very sad to be missing Catalyst Dallas. As I said here, Catalyst and Dallas are two of my favorite things so I am pretty sure that together they will be pretty freakin’ incredible. If you go (there are still tickets available here if you haven’t purchased yours yet), be sure to take good notes so you can tell me all about it. And will someone please keep an eye on Bianca for me? I have this fear that she is gonna go all cowgirl on us and we won’t be able to get her back to her to the “gnarly” Southern California girl I know and love.

Instead of heading to the Lone Star State, I am heading to Louisville, Kentucky to participate in the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit at Southeast Christian Church. I am really excited to see some friends, learn more about how we can get better serve orphans, and blog about the experience. It’s gonna be awesome. And this is my first trip to Louisville. Any tips on things to do, or more importantly, places to eat?

Last but not least, today Shaun Groves posted a sweet introduction to all the Compassion Bloggers that are heading to the Philippines. Go meet them and join me in praying for their trip. The month or so before they head out can be scary (I know that I was a big ol’ mess before my trip) so pray that they will find peace as God begins to open their hearts and prepare them for this journey.

Now it’s your turn. What’s circling in your head today?

This year one of my favorite things is coming to Dallas for the first time.

May 11 – 13 the Catalyst Conference will be in Dallas. Attend and you can hear from leadership authorities including Andy Stanley, Matt Chandler, David Platt, Christine Caine, Donald Miller and Craig Groeschel , along with several innovative thinkers and practitioners like hip hop legend Rev Run, best-selling author Scott Belsky, International Justice Mission founder Gary Haugen, long-time activist Dr. John Perkins, ESPY winner Scotty Smiley, and charity: water founder Scott Harrison.

And be sure to get there on Wednesday to catch Catalyst Labs featuring innovative thought leaders like Michael Hyatt (my extraordinary boss and Thomas Nelson CEO), Mark Batterson, Scot McKnight, Mike Foster, David Kinnaman, Samuel Rodriguez, Esther Havens, Shaun King, Anne Jackson, Gayle Haggard, Jon Acuff, Lecrae, Margaret Feinberg, Chris Seay, Vicky Beeching, Eugene Cho and others.

Catalyst Dallas 2011 Preview from Catalyst on Vimeo.

The early bird deadline for registration is THIS THURSDAY so be sure to register before then. Oh, and you can use the RATE CODE FOB and save an additional 15% off your ticket prices.

What’s your favorite thing about Texas?

Mine: Easy. The food. Tex-Mex, hamburgers, chicken fried whatever…it all tastes better in Texas.

I have been traveling the last five weekends.

I don’t how it happened exactly. I would have never planned it that way but…

There was a wedding of a close friend and co-worker in Dallas. There was a Women of Faith conference that my sister and Bianca could attend. There was a baby shower in Birmingham that I was helping host. There was Thanksgiving in Asheville with the whole family. There was a reunion of Compassion Bloggers at Deeper Still.

They all seemed like opportunities I could not turn down. So I went. Every weekend. For the last five weekends.

And it wore me out. My house is a wreck. My bills are piled up high on my desk waiting to be paid. My puppy has been neglected. My friends haven’t been properly loved on. My life is in general disarray.

But I learned a lesson. There is always a lesson.

I need to learn to say “no.” (Let’s practice it together…”nooooooo.”) I need to build more margin in my life. I need to build in down time so I can fully enjoy the experiences I say “yes” to. This is key…I found myself so tired last weekend in Birmingham that I couldn’t fully revel in the incredible opportunity at hand. (Shame on me.) I found myself knowing exactly what Beth meant when she said, “Our treasure gets lost in the same trash as our time. Where there is no margin, there is no treasure.”

In 2011, I am going to TRY to living with a new rule.

I will be in town at least 2 weekends a month.

We’ll see if I can do it. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy being in Nashville the next few weekends.

What kinds of boundaries do you put around your time?

Really what it was like? Not some dreamed-up idealized version of high school where you felt secure, loved, and popular? Because I do. I try to block it out sometimes, but it is there, still haunting me.

I grew up in Dallas, Texas, in an area that some people like to call affectionately “the bubble.” A common misconception is that where there is wealth and conservative values that life is easy, but oh how that is wrong -especially if you are a girl trying to fight your way through high school.

I fared pretty well. I made good grades. I had boatloads of friends (I guess you could call them that, but more accurately I always had lots of people around.) I was actively involved in Younglife & K-Life. I didn’t really drink. I was Associate Editor of the yearbook. I thought drugs were bad. I was elected as a leader of “the” girls’ service organization. I had it together, or that’s what I wanted to believe.

My only “real” battle scar was a year long bout with an eating disorder. And it was a doozy. I had been an overweight child. And fighting for control and acceptance lead me down a path where I dropped literally 50 pounds in a little less than a year. It scared my parents, my friends, and me.

All this to say…high school was a tough place for me to navigate. And I’d imagine that in the fifteen years since I have graduated from high school that has only been magnified. It pains me to think about how difficult life is for teenage girls today.

Please take just a few seconds to watch this video and think about what you can do to transform the life of a teenage girl.

Checkout this website, for the Revolve Tour. They are working hard to impact these struggling young women.

And take a minute to tell me what you remember about high school.

Women of Faith is a division of Thomas Nelson and so it was essentially a work trip. And candidly, without my connection to Thomas Nelson, I probably wouldn’t have attended a Women of Faith conference.

You see I don’t typically enjoy being in extremely large groups of women, and that is what this is, a group of 16,000 women to be specific. (I know its weird, but sometimes lot and lots of women in a confined space make me feel overwhelmed and not in a good way.)

Not attending Women of Faith would have been a big mistake because Women of Faith should not be missed. Here’s why:

1. Mary Graham and her team know how to produce an event. For fifteen hours you can sit in a chair and be totally and completely entertained. There is literally never a dull moment.
2. Mandisa rocks and Allison Allen will have you rolling.
3. The speakers – Sheila Walsh, Marilyn Meberg, Patsy Clairmont, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Rich Stearns, Lisa Whelchel, Sandi Patty, and Luci Swindoll – each have a unique message that needs to be heard. (And not those “this is what good Christians do” messages, but rather messages with authentic, and sometimes uproariously funny, storytelling and refreshing honesty.)
4. Women of Faith will remind you of the incredible power of laughter. Nothing heals our soul quite like it. And I know that I for one don’t laugh enough. (I would venture to say that there is not a cynic alive who could attend Women of Faith without busting out in uncontrollable fits of it at least a time or two.)
5. Each of the women on the “porch” represent what many of us are striving to be. They are strong, real, dependable, engaging, transparent, funny, and uplifting. Although their paths have not been easy, they forge on with confidence, grace, and faith.

Don’t take my word for it, you should check out the Women of Faith conference. Check it out even if (actually especially if) you think you are too young, too old, too tired, too busy, or too cool. This event has the potential to surprise you. Here is the complete 2009 schedule.

Have you been to a Women of Faith conference? What was your experience?

It is funny when people ask where I am from or where home is, I never really know what to say.

I was born in Dallas (Texas), spent my collegiate years in Boulder (Colorado), settled in Birmingham (Alabama) for the eight years after college, and currently live and work in Nashville (Tennessee). I truly believe that I have resided in the best places this country has to offer — minus perhaps Austin (Texas) which would be next on my list.

My Three Nieces - Macon, Kate, and Anne Shelton at My Parent's House in Dallas

Even though I spent my formative years in Texas and still head back frequently to eat Mexican food and visit my parents, I would venture to call Birmingham “home.” Birmingham is the home of the restaurants I crave and the people I love. It is where I met Molly (my dog) and where I owned my first property. It is where I established my independence and where I can retreat when I need to be taken care of.

Now that I am focused on building a life in Nashville, I wonder if and when this feeling will shift and it will truly become “home.”

So now I will ask you…Where are do you consider “home”?