mortar & pastel the blog
Collection by Mortar & Pastel
follow along as I navigate through life...one prescription at a time
mortar & pastel: Rx
mortar & pastel: test kitchen
Slutty Brownies
I came across the slutty brownie one night in pharmacy school and my life has forever changed for the better. I often treat my co-workers to these life changing brownies and there’s never a c…
Test Kitchen: Naan Pizza
If you don’t know what naan is, please RUN to your nearest supermarket and have your mind blown. Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread found in the cuisines mainly of Iran, India, Western …
Arroz con Pollo
To say that I’ve been a bit obsessed with trying to replicate my favorite childhood comfort foods in the Insta Pot is an understatement. Why the instapot and not the old fashion way, you ask… becau…
Potaje de Chicharo
Is burning lentil soup on the insta pot a bad omen? -asking for a friend A few weeks ago while cleaning the Instant Pot, the pressure valve fell out. I didn’t think much of it and just placed it ba…
Stuffing
I’ve tried and gracefully failed at making stuffing for the past two years! I learned a lot from my mistakes. For instance, I’m not at the level to use fresh bread in my stuffing. Stick…
Chili
Fall weather hasn’t seemed to make its way down south just yet, but nonetheless I’ve decided to make chili this week. I came across this recipe in grad school and would make it for my r…
Weekly Meal Prep
This weeks meal prep was inspired by my need to take a break in the kitchen. I asked E to pick one staple protein we can use various ways throughout the week. We decided on ground turkey aka millen…
Weekly Meal Prep
This weeks meal prep was once again inspired by my need to take a break in the kitchen. Our staple protein will be a whole chicken. Vaca Frita is a Cuban dish consisting of fried and shredded skirt…
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
The year was 2012, Taylor Swift had just released her Red album and was hosting private album listening sessions in her various homes. Clearly my invitation got lost in the mail. There are photogra…
mortar & pastel: home
House Plants 101
There has been some buzz and speculation about why millennials are obsessed with collecting house plants (here and here). For me, it is the joy, gratification, and minimalist aesthetics that comes …
How to Host a Galentine’s Brunch
Galentine’s Brunch is always a good excuse to gather all the girls and sip on champagne while catching up. My girlfriends have always opted to take turns hosting at home. I thought I’d share what g…
Home Organization 101
If you have the pleasure of knowing me personally or if you’ve had the privilege of sharing a home with me, you’d know that I am passionate about organization. I may or may not have organized rooma…
Deck the Halls
Decorating the house for Christmas brings so much joy to my heart. Last year I came across a natural fern garland at Trader Joes and can’t picture another holiday season without natural fern.…
Thanksgiving Table Setting
I took away the skeletons from halloween and added fall foliage leaves to the table. Feel free to take from the following options what you like and what will work for your guest. Keep in mind if th…
Trick or Treat
Happy Halloween everyone! This year we decided to dress up as the skeletons. I’ll be staffing an evening shift in the emergency room (wish me luck), which leaves the hubs alone at home to fen…
DIY Guest Bathroom
When we first moved into the home my husband put an offer on while I was sleeping (more on that later) the only immediate change we did was to build a fence. I knew right from the start that the ho…
Fall Home Decor
When it comes to pumpkins, I’m drawn to the pale green, white and gray ones. For the sake of tradition I throw in a few classic orange pumpkins. I like to bring out my vintage brass candle sticks I…
mortar & pastel: lifestyle
How to Style Bud Vases
I took a peonies bud vase styling workshop at House of Lilac and realized that a bud vase is the most understated arrangement. The ladies at HOL were nice enough to share a “bud vase workshop…
How to Style a Small Flower Arrangement
I’s shared a few blog post on how to style everyday flowers throughout the home to elevate the every day. ( here, here, here and here ) In this blog post I’ll be styling a small arrangement with the flowers from my House of Lilac double bouquet subscription. I used a few flowers to style three bud vases and demonstrated a “bud vase how to” in this blog post. If your local and would like your very own HOL bouquet subscription or flowers you can use my referral code to get 15% off.
Terrible Twos: HBD Bruce + Wayne
My little fur-babies turn two. Bruce and Wayne are from the same litter, but couldn’t be more different. Their favorite hobbies together included destroying “super chewer toys,” uprooting the…
Happy Valentine’s Day
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Flowers
How I styled my House of Lilac Double Bouquet at Home
Holiday Recap
Did anyone else have time to stop and smell the roses between thanksgiving and new years eve? -asking for a friend In the span of 24 hours we turned over our guest room from hosting friends to in-l…
New Year, Same Flower Obsession
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White Elephant Gift Guide
Last year I convinced my family to do a white elephant gift exchange instead of getting everyone individual gifts. I was the go-to gift shopper since gift giving is my love language. Which me…
Friendsgiving
How to host a friendsgiving
Flowers: a love language
As a member of House of Lilacs Flower club, you receive many perks. I’ve taken a couple flowers workshops to learn more about flowers and how to style them. When they launched their flower bo…
mortar & pastel: style
French Tuck vs. Bra Tuck: A 3-Step Tutorial
Easy sweater-tuck tips for a fashion-girl look
Spring Outfits
Whats currently in my Infinitely Loft “on-the-rack” midi skirt shimmer dot dress pleated skirt black skinny jeans striped fringe sweater flare-crop jeans velvet blouse What I rented fro…
RTR October Round-up
In a prior post, I shared my fall inspiration. Now I’ll be sharing how I styled my Rent the Runway items during south Florida’s lovely “fall” weather. I paired the plaid str…
Infinitely Loft October Recap
The Infinity Loft membership works a bit differently than the Rent the Runway one. It’s three items at a time, unlimited. The catch is that you don’t get to select which three items you…
mortar & pastel: wedding
Bridal Shower
For my bridal shower, in true type-A personality, I planned (almost) everything. Not that the bridesmaids were not capable of planning a wonderful bridal shower, its just I have control issues. Thankfully no bad blood was spilled because my bridesmaids understand my crazy. Given my obsession with flowers and decor, I decided to take over that aspect of the planning and left the rest to the bridesmaids.
Our Wedding
Wedding Photographer: Infinite Creations Getting Ready We got ready at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables. I rented us each a presidential suite to ensure both our wedding parties would have a comforta…
mortar & pastel: travel
Travel – mortar & pastel
Girls Trip to Waco, Texas
Other Pins
How to Style Bud Vases
I took a peonies bud vase styling workshop at House of Lilac and realized that a bud vase is the most understated arrangement. The ladies at HOL were nice enough to share a “bud vase workshop…
House Plants 101
There has been some buzz and speculation about why millennials are obsessed with collecting house plants (here and here). For me, it is the joy, gratification, and minimalist aesthetics that comes …
Slutty Brownies
I came across the slutty brownie one night in pharmacy school and my life has forever changed for the better. I often treat my co-workers to these life changing brownies and there’s never a c…
How to Style a Small Flower Arrangement
I’s shared a few blog post on how to style everyday flowers throughout the home to elevate the every day. ( here, here, here and here ) In this blog post I’ll be styling a small arrangement with the flowers from my House of Lilac double bouquet subscription. I used a few flowers to style three bud vases and demonstrated a “bud vase how to” in this blog post. If your local and would like your very own HOL bouquet subscription or flowers you can use my referral code to get 15% off.
Test Kitchen: Naan Pizza
If you don’t know what naan is, please RUN to your nearest supermarket and have your mind blown. Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread found in the cuisines mainly of Iran, India, Western …
Terrible Twos: HBD Bruce + Wayne
My little fur-babies turn two. Bruce and Wayne are from the same litter, but couldn’t be more different. Their favorite hobbies together included destroying “super chewer toys,” uprooting the…