>> I got a bachlor, I guess you'd say, in Fine Arts and Interior Design.
And that was at [inaudible] College.
For me, I started out -- before interior design I worked my first job
at a nursery, a greenhouse.
And I found it very interesting because I like plants, as I pointed to a silk arrangement.
And I worked there for a summer.
But that was still a very good job.
It gave me a little bit of an education.
And I think all these jobs in our history somehow reflect into what we do.
Then I'd say probably the biggest job that changed or enhanced my decision
for what I was going to do -- I was probably about 18-years-old,
and I managed a miniature store, a [inaudible] miniature.
Things that you find almost many pieces in the [inaudible] and then you'd see them in Chicago.
And it was really neat to see how you would take a miniature room
and just watch how those craftsman would take a quarter-inch scale --
and somebody could actually do hand-blown glass animals.
There was a woman that made floral arrangements in quarter-inch scale.
Furniture, there are people who built all kinds of things
in the houses that were truly to scale.
Ultimately, my brother was dating a girl whose mother was an interior designer.
And I was painting a mural up in my parents' living room.
And I was always very artist and creative --
did [inaudible] sculpture and so forth in high school.
And did painting and things like that.
And, as I said, I was painting this mural.
And I just took the chance because I said don't be shy and don't -- you don't ask you don't get.
So I tapped on her window and just introduced myself.
And I asked her to come and take a look at this mural.
She came right in.
And had a little chat with her.
Told her I was interested in interior design.
And she looked at the mural and said this is really a great mural.
And I said I loved to go to merchandise [inaudible] in Chicago [inaudible].
We're talking a little while back because I was pretty young.
And I'm 47-years-old now.
So she said would you like to go to the [inaudible].
And I said absolutely.
So I went with her.
And she give me some fabrics, and she said go ahead and, you know,
if could coordinate some things to go with this.
And I did.
And she said you did very well.
Why don't you go to school and you can work with me.
So I worked with her.
And I went to school while I was working with her.
And that's how things began.
So tapping on somebody's window and just having the courage to ask.
And she let me go with her one day and she saw something in me.
There went my design career.