Where to begin?

Do you know those days where you've got so much on your to-do list - and so much more that hasn't yet made it onto your to-do list - that you don't know where to start?

Because I'm there.

I feel like every time I mark off an item or two on my list, five more pop up in its place. Part of it is owning my own business and still working very hard to establish myself and make headway with new clients. It's always important to put each and every client at the top of my list. Which makes for a lot of "tops." Which makes for a lot of deadline-oriented tasks that must be done, and done now.

Part of it is also the traveling and being uprooted, as I'll put it. I'm constantly on the go, and living out of a suitcase since August 15 just isn't my idea of being settled. But that's okay, because we're so blessed to have amazing friends in Houston who have been putting up with us in their home since we got back from Scotland. We are so grateful for their hospitality, it's made these past few months a lot more bearable while we searched and searched and searched for a house (which is pending, let's hope).

My office happens to be wherever I am at that moment. It consists of one laptop, a notebook and a ballpoint pen. It's how I keep track of everything, it's where the business happens, it's where I come up with inspiration material, it's where I write endless amounts of text and stories, it's where I keep in touch with family and friends, and it's where I chronicle all the fun things we do from time to time. (In case you've missed some of the latest, you can check them out here and here.)

I work from our friend's kitchen table in Houston, I work in the car between Big D and H-Town, I work at my mom's secondary "desk" in the computer room (where I type now), I work from bed, from the local library and many a Starbucks. I like having the ability to be mobile, but sometimes it can get frustrating when you can't find the file you're looking for, a blank sheet of paper or an extra ballpoint pen. Because I somehow managed to lose the one I started out with two paragraphs ago.

We are still in the process of readapting to life back in the States. You would never realize the amount of adjustments and alterations that one must go through when moving between countries - unless, of course, you've done that before. (Read about our adventure!) It can be maddening. Well, really it's mostly exhilarating on the way there and then just maddening and exhausting once you're back. There's paperwork, bills, address changes, closing of credit cards or bank accounts, filing weird taxes, storage facilities and shipment deliveries to accommodate, doctor appointments to catch up on (I'm saving the dentist visit for last)... not to mention starting your own business, buying a house and catching up with friends and family. Every time we come to Dallas for a weekend (whether it's the husband's hunting trip, a high school reunion, family events or anything else we can squeeze into the calendar), I promise myself I'm not going to over schedule. But somehow I always end up doing a million and one things, with hardly any time to accomplish the stuff I truly set out to do, and I'm exhausted and overwhelmed when it's time to go home.

So that's about where I'm at right now. Except I'm not going home just yet and I really do have to try and take a whack at that to-do list. However big it may be getting. I tend to make a "priority checklist" and just start at the top. I aim to knock out as much as I can over the course of that week, which in this case starts now, of course. (If procrastination were an art, I'd be a masterpiece.)

But in the meantime, however overwhelmed I may get, I can always take a deep breath and tell myself it'll all get done because it always does. I work well under pressure, sometimes better even. Plus, in my humble opinion, there's never anything worth stressing over that bad that you can't enjoy the little things in life.

Like spending time in conversation with my mom on a recent night over a bottle of wine and our own self-assembled antipasta tray:

Some things are just too good to pass up. Now where'd I put that pen?