38 years and counting

Sometimes I dream about how I'll spend my retirement years. Of course, being with loved ones, gardening, cooking, reading, and traveling top the list -- but I'm also pretty sure I'll need some sort of job to keep me busy. I often consider volunteer work, but another option comes to mind a lot as well: working at a florist.

I absolutely love flowers...always have. I started working in the garden with my parents, particularly my dad, at a very young age (I even won the W3834 County Road J Junior Rose Gardener Award in the late '80s), and having flowers around the house from time to time is one of the simple pleasures that I let myself indulge in (thanks to Ian's frequent contributions).

At The Knot, I get to think about flowers on a daily basis -- I'm one of the go-to people writers seek out if they're having trouble identifying a bloom for an article. The moments when I get to pore over photos of gorgeous bouquets, centerpieces, and other arrangements are always some of the highlights of my day. Today was a first: I was invited to arrange the three bouquets above for a live broadcast segment that our home director, Krissy, was working on (she decorated the vases!). It was great fun. I hope she'll ask me to do that again sometime. I can always use more photos for my portfolio...even if it won't be unveiled for 38 years.

Photo courtesy of Hayley Schlesinger and The Knot