Mark and Brett are tres chic!

They recently moved to the fashionable Notting Hill area in West London after living fabulously in Paris. I recently caught up with them at their "vacation" home in historic Coral Gables, Florida.

First... the quick backstory!

Mark and I met and became instant friends while working together at Nordstrom some thirteen years ago in Atlanta. I was with Mark the night he met Brett. They've been together ever since.

Brett is an business executive with an international firm and is the left brain thinker of the relationship. While Mark, an architectural designer, is the right brain creative force. Together, they are a perfect balance of intellect and intuition - and they both have style, grace and charm. In Paris, their place was on the sophisticated Champs-Élysées.

The view, from their balcony, of the Arc de Triomphe was so close that you could almost touch it! After five years in Paris, they moved to London as Brett's business territories shifted.

While spending [my] Christmas in Miami I visited with Mark and Brett and got inspired to do this story after touring the gorgeous home they just bought. To be honest, I saw it at Thanksgiving during a very brief visit with Mark. This time around, I had an all day catch-up with them which included dinner at the well known Havana Harry's.

The entrance to the 1926 home built by famed architect Robert Law Weed was stacked with 250 moving boxes which had just arrived from London two days prior to my visit.

One of several varieties of heliconia that grace the property. The landscape will undoubtedly change and evolve to grandeur as Mark has the greenest thumb I've ever seen.

The house itself is undergoing a transformation as it has some fixer-upper characteristics! For example, check out the new french doors... every window and door has been replaced, upgraded and modernized by Mark and Brett.

Mark has many creative outlets, like knitting, gardening and antiquing. You should see his impressive collection of Lu Ray pastel dinnerware. Mosaic tiling is another hobby. This fabulous planter is just one of many works of art by my multi-talented transatlantic amigo. Mark creates them out of broken tiles and upon his return to London he's going to take a workshop with a Parisian artisan who'll teach him to make them from glass.

The living room. Remember, two days before this picture, all boxes, everywhere.

Mark, his brother Kenneth and I, picked Brett up at Miami International a couple of days before Christmas. Brett had one very special [and fragile] carry on luggage. A surprise for Mark of the most exquisite glass ornaments he picked up in Finland.

Mark in his office.

I miss Mark and Brett terribly, though I am happy their lives are so complete. Plus having friends living

abroad is a nice bonus. I'll be seeing them while in London this Spring and will be sure to tell you about their place in Notting Hill, which by the way, opens up to the private Rosemead Gardens. The same gardens in the Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant movie, Notting Hill.

This is a Winter view of their London place taken by Mark in early December, 1010:

fashionado