Every day for the past month has felt like Groundhog Day.  

I wake up at 4:30 am, try not to rouse the kids. Throw on my least dirty clothes, brush my teeth in between sips of coffee, then I hit the road. I write music on the way to my restaurant. Then I set up a commercial kitchen for service, cook for nine hours, then clean a commercial kitchen. I then go home, clean house, play super heroes with the kids for an hour, and inevitably pass out on the couch holding an action figure and a dram of scotch. 

Repeat. Over and over. 

And I’m not complaining. It’s a great life. But for a person who likes spice in my life, it’s a little vanilla. 

Enter the smørrebrød. 

The smørrebrød is an item on my restaurant menu. It’s a rotating trio of open-faced sandwiches. Everyday, we come into the restaurant, look at the same ingredients, and find new and exciting ways to put them together on top of a piece of rye bread. One day, we whipped leftover smoky hot sauce into butter and topped it with goat cheese, venison, and bull’s blood micro greens. 

Adios, vanilla. 

No matter how hum-drum my life may get, there are usually ways to shake things up by rearranging components. As a musician, I make different songs out of the same notes by putting them together in a fresh way. As a mom, I keep things exciting by reading books to my children using different voices and accents.

And my kids shake up their lives by turning the components of our living room into a fort.  

Reader, if you too are feeling a little bleh, try putting the elements of your life together in a new way. We don’t have to keep things in their same predictable order. Stay creative and inspired out there. I’ll see you next week. -Em