Well I finally did it - I created a blog! I haven't had one of these babies since the days of Xanga (who remembers Xanga?!) Pretty sure mine looked something like this: Anyway, you might be wondering, why Symphony Lane? No, it's not a stripper name (unfortunately). It's the name of the street I lived on in Blue Bell, PA until I was about 5 years old. I have very faint memories of this house, but it's the story behind it that holds meaning.

The tiny house on Symphony Lane

In Pennsylvania in 1980, a man name Jerry Starobin and his father Leonard thought of a unique project: to engineer and build the first totally solar powered home. Together, and with Jerry's small company called Total Solar, they made this project come to fruition. Heat from the solar panels was transferred to a huge rock pile under the house. The floors were black slate for passive solar storage. The tables were glass so that sunshine could hit the black slate floor. There was no back up heat. They even designed a solar air conditioner. In the years following, engineering students from the University of Pennsylvania would even come to the house for tours.A few years after the project was compete, Jerry fell in love with an intelligent and beautiful woman name Debby Derman. After getting married, they moved into the tiny solar house together to start their new life. They had 2 little boys, Benjamin and Jonathan, with a third one on the way.Although the house was meant to be an experiment, they made it into a home. In March of 1992, Jerry passed away suddenly. Jerry was my late father, and Debby is my mother. Debby was 3 months pregnant with me at the time. Her sons (my big brothers) were 2 and 5.My mother is the strongest woman I know. She picked herself up and eventually found love again and remarried. In 1998, we moved out of the solar home to start a new life in a nearby town in PA.My grief for my father grew as I got older. I always had a sense of wonder about him, a feeling of incompleteness from never having met him. I would sometimes ask my mom questions about him, something small like, Was he a morning person or a night owl? or What was his favorite shirt? One day, I asked about our old house on Symphony Lane. That was when my mom told me the history behind it. Prior to that, I didn't even know it was such a special house! I was in awe.I was born an artist and as a child would spend hours, holed up in my room, drawing. When I got older, my passion for art and design turned into a career in graphic design. But I always loved interiors, and had a fascination for building things; small things that are self-taught, like building a really easy bench, or finding innovative ways to decorate my room. The idea of creating things is awesome to me. So when my mom told me all about how my dad loved to build, and built our actual HOUSE, a part of the puzzle connected – So THAT'S where I get it from! Even though it was mainly a hobby, this connection motivated me to really pursue it and make an effort to do small projects. In honor of my dad.This blog for me is definitely a creative outlet, but also has deeper meaning in that a lot these posts are in honor of my dad. I actually ended up writing this on his birthday, which I swear was not planned. But I know it's because he's here with me, cheering me on (omg, I'm sorry that was so sappy).This isn't a topic I talk about often, so I'm a little nervous to even post this. But I'm also HELLA excited to start this blog which was a long time coming!!YAY BLOGS!!!!-Abby

What's in a name? (first post!)

The tiny house on Symphony Lane

Self portrait: My bedroom