I’m a Spanish interpreter/ homebuilder who’s planning to build a Passive House in the historic Avondale neighborhood of Birmingham, AL. This blog is a chronicle of the design, planning and construction process of the house itself, which also forms part of a larger personal quest for a simpler, more peaceful life.  I often think about what kind of projects I’d like to spend my time doing. I’m passionate about sustainable living, building, and self-awareness. I want to share the insights, ideas, and strategies that I learn along the way in case others can benefit from the things I learn as well. I’ve seen in my own life how my quality of life diminishes as I consume more and acquire more assets and responsibilities. In an attempt to better our lives, it seems that we often make things worse.  Along with all the benefits that progress and technological advances have brought us, they’ve also helped create lives full of short attention spans, unnecessary stuff, debt, processed foods, and sedentary ways.  I think we can use our knowledge and technologies in ways that enhance our lives, and I’d like to make more conscious choices for myself about how to do that.  I believe that the more informed and aware we are as individuals, the more power we have to create positive change on a larger scale and within society as a whole. Then maybe we won’t need to spend excessive amounts of money and effort on things like blowing up mountains to mine coal, when there are ways to harvest free clean energy from the sun :).