Sorry for the long story, but this has been going on a few days.
The circuit breaker for our second bedroom tripped a few days ago. It's used as an office and at the time the overhead light and ceiling fan were on as well as an LED TV and a cable box. I reset the breaker and it immediately tripped again so I turned the light and fan off and unplugged everything in the room, including those devices that weren't on at the time the breaker tripped. The breaker didn't immediately trip, but as soon as I turned on the overhead light it tripped. That was an "Aha" moment and I thought I'd discovered the issue. Just to make sure I turned the light off, reset the breaker and turned the light on and...nothing. Then, I turned on the ceiling fan and it tripped the breaker again. At that point I pulled the ceiling fan and light fixture down, checked the wiring and reinstalled them. I turned everything on and the breaker didn't trip...until a couple hours later.
This time I disconnected the black leads from the two switches that control the ceiling fan and light. Then I reset the breaker and it didn't trip so I just figured I had some kind of internal wiring problem in the fan or switches and decided to pick up a fan and two light switches from the big box store on the way home from work the next day. I reconnected the switches, plugged everything back in and told Kathy not to turn the overhead light or fan on. About noon I got a call from Kathy and she says the entry foyer light is "burned out" and we don't have any extra bulbs, can I pick up one from the store when I get the fan. I tell her sure and think nothing more of it. A couple hours later she calls and tells me the hall light is also out and the circuit breaker in the second bedroom tripped again because nothing electrical in the room works. I decided to skip buying the fan and investigate some more.
The circuit labeled Bedroom 2 in the breaker box powers the outlets in the bedroom, the overhead fan and light in the bedroom as well as the hall light, the light in the foyer and a light over the breakfast area in the kitchen. All lights except the kitchen light use low wattage CFLs. The kitchen uses a 60 watt incandescent bulb.
Armed with this knowledge I disconnected the overhead light and fan switches in the bedroom again. That left the switchs, light and fan unpowered. Then I turned on the hall, foyer and kitchen lights and they ran all night and half the next day until the breaker tripped. I had Kathy reset the breaker and turn off the kitchen and foyer light. The hall light ran for a couple days and then tripped the breaker. I turned off the hall light and turned on the foyer light and its still running.
At this point I'm thinking the breaker may be the issue. One other piece of information--the breaker is a GFI breaker, but as near as I can tell, none of the outlets it powers are outside or in a wet area. I checked the outlets in the laundry and bathroom and this breaker definitely doesn't power any of them or the outlets near the front and back door.