diff --git a/lib/compass.rb b/lib/compass.rb
index 12aca135..d82db208 100644
--- a/lib/compass.rb
+++ b/lib/compass.rb
@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@ module Compass
   def base_directory
     File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..'))
   end
-  module_function :base_directory
+  def lib_directory
+    File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__)))
+  end
+  module_function :base_directory, :lib_directory
 end
 
 require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'compass', 'frameworks')
diff --git a/lib/compass/exec.rb b/lib/compass/exec.rb
index 97f6e0e9..3198851c 100644
--- a/lib/compass/exec.rb
+++ b/lib/compass/exec.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 require 'optparse'
 require 'rubygems'
 require 'haml'
+require File.join(Compass.lib_directory, 'compass', 'logger')
 
 module Compass
   module Exec
diff --git a/lib/compass/logger.rb b/lib/compass/logger.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eb0a184e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/compass/logger.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+module Compass
+  class Logger
+
+    DEFAULT_ACTIONS = [:directory, :exists, :remove, :create, :overwrite]
+
+    attr_accessor :actions, :options
+
+    def initialize(*actions)
+      self.options = actions.last.is_a?(Hash) ? actions.pop : {}
+      @actions = DEFAULT_ACTIONS.dup
+      @actions += actions
+    end
+
+    # Record an action that has occurred
+    def record(action, *arguments)
+      log "#{action_padding(action)}#{action} #{arguments.join(' ')}"
+    end
+
+    # Emit a log message
+    def log(msg)
+      puts msg
+    end
+
+    # add padding to the left of an action that was performed.
+    def action_padding(action)
+      ' ' * [(max_action_length - action.to_s.length), 0].max
+    end
+
+    # the maximum length of all the actions known to the logger.
+    def max_action_length
+      @max_action_length ||= actions.inject(0){|memo, a| [memo, a.to_s.length].max}
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file