Happy New Year!!

Written by Tom.

Happy New Year! It's our new year's resolution to try and keep our blog up to date, so having not posted since last spring, there's a LOT to try and cram in this post.

Amy & Matthew

The main event of the year was of course my sisters wedding out in Venice during the summer. We had such a fantastic holiday and Italy was a perfect change of pace from life in the mountains. It was a wonderful weekend of friends and family topped off with water taxis around the Venice canals and dinners in the piazzas.

Golden Gate Park

Big Sur

When we came back to the States we headed off on part two of our summer hols to Las Vegas and sunny San Francisco! We travelled all around the Bay area before heading down to Big Sur. I wont lie, it's one of my favourite places and not only because of the amazing wildlife. Everywhere you look there's giant redwood trees, sea otters, condors, pelican's or breaching whales with the most staggering coastlines i've ever seen!

Michelle was in her absolute element with incredible florists, flower markets and succulents! We found a few amazing florist she's been following on Instagram including  Flora Grubb where i could have left her all holiday! http://instagram.com/floragrubbgardens

Boys toys at work

As many people know, i've been busy working on a TV series out here which finally finished shooting in the autumn. It was an amazing experience to work with such a talented crew out in the field and i'm really delighted with what we captured for the show. It's due to air in November 2015 and is currently in the edit process at the moment but watch this space for updates.

During the autumn we were fortunate that both sets of our parents made the trip over the pond. My folks came over in the fall just before the snow arrived and in time to see some animals before the park closed for the winter. I don't think they were prepared for the negative 50c temperature change that was to greet them when they came back for Christmas!

Fall Colours in Central Park

Between their visits, we made a break for the Big City and spent a long weekend with Shell's folks in New York. Whilst Shell went ahead and enjoyed blue sky's for a couple of days before I arrived in Manhattan, Jackson received 2ft of snow and I eventually arrived 9 hours delayed with no luggage! New York more than made up for it however as we visited the Statue of Liberty, Singing Cafes, The Natural History Museum and Broadway. Shell managed to pack two musicals in, shopping on Fifth Avenue and nightly cocktails so needless to say, she's already wanting to go back!

Christmas kept us both busy right up (and in Michelle's case right through) to the end of the year. Shell was up at the Four Seasons setting up decorations, making festive wreaths and delivering flowers at all hours whilst my folks, sister and new brother in law came to town. I'm not sure they signed up for the negative 30c temperatures but it was wonderful to have them here over Christmas and New Year. Dad seemed to especially enjoy the country swing dancing and Mum the snowshoeing in 2ft of fresh powder! Nevertheless, I think they'll be coming in the summer next time!

Hello Spring... Finally!

Written By Shell.

So I’ve returned to the Hole with a new title- ‘non- resident alien’! It’s so great to be back and I’ve got lots to tell you already.

I’ve been at work almost a month now at Floral Art, working with the incredibly talented owner Ian Whipple. Every day I’m amazed by his skill and vision to create different floral designs, and every day I feel like I’m learning so much from him.  I’ve already been involved in some epic projects including some beautiful weddings and a Native Indian themed funeral (photos coming soon!).

 This last weekend was Mothers Day here in the US and we were SO busy. It was a delight to be able to work with such a large selection of flowers again and it was a chance for me to really get creative. We had a great variety of vase arrangements going out the door but I’m pleased to say that the ‘European’ inspired wrapped bouquets were also a hit!

To finally welcome Spring in Jackson we had a massive delivery of outdoor plants arrive at the shop this week as well. These plants sit outside the front of the shop throughout the day and night to entice customers with no threat of theft- only in Jackson! I’m so tempted by the beautiful peony plants and bright calla lily plants and it’s great that he stocks such a large selection of plants as well as cut flowers. Check out the Floral Art website to see what other designs we make: http://thefloralartist.com/

One of many Mothers Day arrangement.

A basket full of hydrangeas for a studio opening in town. 

In between work I’ve been busy setting other things up. I had a road trip to Idaho Falls with my lovely friend Joanna to pay a visit to the Social Security office, luckily there was lots of time for shopping afterwards- mainstream clothes shops are a bit of a novelty to us as there’s none in Jackson. I’ve also passed my Wyoming driving licence (mainly so I don’t have to pay tourist admission at the Cowboy Bar!). My driving test involved driving down a straight road for 6 miles and then tackling 2 junctions- no manoeuvres required thank goodness.

Out serarching for Griz

I was fortunate enough to spend one of my days off with the Brainfarm team out in Teton Park searching for the grizzly bears that are just coming out of hibernation with their cubs. Unfortunately we weren’t lucky on that day but it was great to get out in the park and have a drive with the beautiful Tetons as your backdrop. It was also great fun getting to know the many bear watchers that hang around the park at this time of year searching for bears to film, photograph or just to spot. It’s the best time as there’s hardly any tourists around but the bears are very active. There’s some great characters around (people, not bears) and we had a great evening watching the sun set, waiting for Griz to appear and chatting about close animal encounters with the other watchers and photographers. You call this work? Shhh don’t tell Tom!  

Sunday Stroll

So Tom and myself are keen to embrace the active Jackson lifestyle. We’ve recently bought tennis rackets, sleeping bags and a tent and we can’t wait to go camping for the first time here. We’re even considering buying bikes to enjoy the many bike paths in the area- if anybody knows me well you’ll know that cycling was never something that I enjoyed as a child and this may be interesting! I’ll let you know how that goes in my next post… hopefully not accompanied with a photo of a grazed knee!

Heli's, Hawaii & Happy Days!

Written by Tom

We're back!!

It's been a while but for the past few months we've been finalising our work visas and felt it best to keep a low profile before our embassy appointments back in the UK. The good news is we've now both been granted work visas and Michelle has started in a new Jackson Florist, Floral Art (http://thefloralartist.com).

Day trip into Yellowstone

I've had a crazy couple of months with shoots in Hawaii for our surf film, Yellowstone for my own show and a trip to Las Vegas just last week for a technology trade fair. We've had Shell's folks pay us a visit for her birthday which provided the perfect excuse to visit all of Jackson's attractions (without me!) and spend some quality time with her folks. It was lovely having them to stay and hopefully they'll be back to see the Tetons in the autumn.

Turtles chilling on the North Shore

 I was about to fly back to Jackson from the UK when I received a call from my boss that I was needed in Hawaii to shoot aerials and assist with our aerial camera system. My first thought was that i didn't even have shorts in Jackson (not much requirement in negative 30) but then how can you say no!? Before I knew it I was driving through Oahu on my way to beach house on the North Shore to film one of the world's best surfers.

Waiting for takeoff in Honolulu airport

It was an AWESOME trip filming in some stunning locations and getting a taste for aerial filming with an incredible team. The landscape of Hawaii is amazing and hopefully we'll be filming there again in the future...

Grand Prismatic Spring - My favourite part of Yellowstone

Little did I know that i'd soon be flying again around Yellowstone. We flew all day for our winter scenics and (hopefully) captured some stunning images of the park. It's amazing how small it feels when you can reach almost anywhere in 15 minutes but i'd actually like to fly it again and look out the window rather than having my face burried in a monitor the whole time. It's very strange filming natural history sometimes, you've visited amazing places or seen rare animal behaviour but your own experience of it is the same as a tv viewer simply watching it on a monitor unfold in front of you. The only difference is a deafening helicopter and mechanic cracking dirty jokes rather than an M83 soundtrack!

 I thought I'd end with an photo from our buddy Ryan Sheets. He's starting work for us in May and has been an incredible photographer on many of our shoots already. If you'd like any shots of Yellowstone or its wildlife then check out his website http://sheetsstudios.com/blog/

Ryan making it look easy!

One to Remember!

Written by Shell

Christmas has come and gone in a bit of a flash for us. We’ve both been working hard during the festive period, Tom’s been preparing for a shoot into Yellowstone, and I was busy at the shop with Christmas orders and arrangements going out all over town! I’m getting used to driving the big florist van and it’s a great way to get to know the area, however you can’t really get lost here because it’s such a small town and it’s designed on a grid system. I’ve already got plenty of stories to tell about the people and the houses that I’ve delivered to, but I’ll save those delights for another time!

Entertaining at our condo-
 the mulled wine is on the hob!

Although we’ve been working we’ve still found time to celebrate. We had a great night out with the Brainfarm gang earlier in December where Curt, the CEO, gave an epic speech about the company and personally thanked everyone in the team for their work and commitment. We’ve also enjoyed introducing our new friends here to Christmas goodies like mulled wine and mince pies, seriously American’s don’t know what they’re missing out on when it comes to Christmas food!

Christmas Day was definitely one to remember for us. We got up early,  resisted the temptation of presents and heading straight out to the ski resort. It was a gorgeously sunny day, the snow was fab and the morning

Christmas Day skiing- perfection!

was blissfully quiet on the slopes- it was my perfect ski conditions and we had a great time! Then it was home for a quick change, a skype with the familia and then back up to the Four Seasons where we treated ourselves to a 4 course Christmas dinner. We had a lovely cosy table by the fire and the food was excellent.  I only remembered afterwards that Sandra Bullock was staying at the hotel over Christmas and was probably in the dining room with us somewhere!!

We celebrated New Year’s Eve in style in Jackson Hole. We watched the torch lit procession and fireworks with the beautiful backdrop of Snowking, our local ski run and then, with some friends, headed to a ‘Private’ party at a bar in town. There was free champagne, 80’s music, great dancing, Pinky G’s pizza… enough said!

So now it’s the New Year! Although we still have a few hurdles to overcome we’re loving our time here. Amongst other things, we’re both looking forward to being more active in the New Year and getting out and about more in this gorgeous part of the USA which, for now, we’re lucky enough to call our home!

Stuck into winter

Written by Tom

I’ve been quiet on the blog for the past few weeks as I’ve been away filming the Big Horn Sheep rut on the outskirts of Yellowstone. It’s been a great start to the series but unfortunately for us, we picked one of the coldest weeks I’ve ever known to be filming. 

Up close & personal with the sheep

We were filming in a steep, wind swept, snow-covered canyon in minus 30c for seven days straight waiting for the sheep to start fighting. Fortunately for us they did eventually start rutting which involved hours of the rams sizing each other up, kicking one another between the legs and then suddenly head butting each other when we weren’t looking. It was incredible to watch and once they got started, they seemed to blank out their surroundings which allowed us to get within just a few meters for some incredible footage.

Deep Pow!

Outside of work we’ve been trying to get out on the slopes as much as possible. There was almost a foot of snow last night and I headed up for a morning’s snowboarding with a buddy of ours whilst Shell sadly had to work in the florist.

It was awesome finally getting stuck into snowboarding the famous powder (pow pow!!) of Jackson and now I understand what all the fuss is about. It’s great fun if exhausting on your legs but after the first powder day of the season I’m hooked and looking forward to getting back out on the mountain on Christmas day!

Christmas lights Jackson Style

Jackson has started filling with tourists for the holiday season and everything is looking very festive (much to Shell's delight!). Every building seems to be lit up and despite today being the shortest day of the year, you wouldn't notice it with all the illuminations around town. With Christmas just around the corner it will be the New Year before we know it and we're currently planning a few ski trips to neighbouring States to make the most of the winter. But first, Shell has booked us a table for Christmas dinner at the Four Seasons in town so watch this space for the next update.

Christmas at a Jackson Florist

written by Shell...

So as most of you know, I’m not one to sit around with nothing to do, so I’ve been making myself useful in the lead up to Christmas at a local florist shop in town. Here are my main learnings from the shop so far:

Dozen Red Roses- Jackson Style!

-          -  No shop in Jackson is complete without a shop dog! Ours is called Jack and he welcomes every customer at the door with a wagging tail!

-           - The way that flowers are designed here is very different from what I’m used to back home, hand tied bouquets are almost unheard of, and instead, our main business is short stemmed arrangements in mason jars or short vases. This means that no effort is required to unwrap the flowers or arrange them in a vase on receiving them!

-           -  It’s very common here in Jackson for people to leave their houses unlocked, and when out, people are happy for us to enter their house and leave the flowers on a table for when they return!

            -  Presentation is everything! My gift wrapping skills are fast improving, and here ribbons are used on everything, from arrangements, to gift boxes, to wreaths.  I’ve been rubber stamping gift bags (childhood memories!) and taping ferns onto presents. Let me tell you, we do gift                                                            wrapping in style!

So in the last few weeks it’s been Christmas overload. I’ve unpackaged and ‘ribboned’ about 60 magnolia wreaths that were then shipped off to clients all over the US. I’ve spent several days with my hands in soil potting up amaryllis and paperwhites, and I’ve been merchandising the store as deliveries of different Christmas gifts just keep on arriving. Within 2 weeks of working at the store I’m on first-name terms with the local Fedex driver!

Plenty of space for Santa down that chimney

I’ve also had the opportunity to work on some larger festive projects, as we’re often called on to provide decorations for local shops and businesses. We also spent a few days at a beautiful home installing their Christmas decorations. Just to give you some idea, the Christmas tree took 8 sets of lights and I couldn’t reach the top, even when using a step ladder. My favourite part was decorating their enormous fireplace with these beautiful pines and ilex berries- even if I did have a slight allergic reaction to the foliage- I’m allergic to Christmas it turns out!

The weather here is definitely causing more challenges, one of which was when I spent probably the coldest day of December wiring pine cones onto a garland outside one of the shops in town. At -20c I could only last about 5 minutes at a time with my gloves off, thank goodness it’s got a bit milder in the last week and 2c feels almost tropical now!  

proud forager!

Enough about work, but sticking with the tree theme, here’s a picture of me with our Christmas tree after me and a friend drove into the forest and hiked to find our own perfect trees whilst both our husbands were away. I would love to be able to say that I cut it down myself, but in fact, all hail my lovely friend Joanna for being brave enough to use a chain saw! I’m pretty proud of our girly adventure and our little tree is the perfect size for our mini condo!

Most festive antics to follow soon…

Thanksgiving!

Written by Tom...

This week was Thanksgiving and came with the opening of the Jackson Hole ski resort. One of our friends is writing the blog for the Jackson Hole resort and managed to score us a couple of free passes to the opening day!

The 'Ice Queen'

We rather tentatively got on the slopes in the morning, Shell testing her new skis and I had no idea if I could remember how to snowboard. There’s always a doubt that you’ll remember how to do it but after a few turns we were off! It’s pretty amazing to be able to ski in the place where you live and we had an awesome morning on the slopes.

Fortunately our buddy Ryan is compelled to review the local restaurants for his blog so we ended up grabbing lunch in the slope side restaurant of the Four Seasons. If anyone ever comes to Jackson to visit we’ll take you for a drink up there!

Then off we went for Thanksgiving dinner at my boss’s house. It was great with all the Brain Farm team coming for dinner and everyone bringing a dish along too. I’m lucky to work with a really friendly crowd who are all around the same age as us. The food was incredible with a giant smoked turkey, roast ham, 4 types of mac and cheese plus the richest mash potatoes I’ve ever eaten. Needless to say we all went home incredibly full and I didn’t eat again till the following evening!

Spot the beaver!

This week Shell and I also went down to the local beaver pond, which we’re planning on filming for the show. Shell’s really loving looking for (and sometimes finding) the wildlife over here. To be honest I didn’t think we’d see any beavers but as we rounded the corner we found two hard at work fixing their dam! Their pond was frozen over but you could see the channels they keep clear around the edges as they busy away before the snow comes. It was pretty cool to see and hopefully we’ll have some luck when we come back cameras rolling.

The snow's starting to come down tonight so all the signs are good for an awsome season in the snow! If anyone wants a place to stay and to hit the slopes in Jackson then just give us a call.