as former chief floral designer of the white house, laura dowling says it should be part of the job. 1985 when she moved to d.c. from washington state, she worked on the hill in public administration but on a trip to paris with her husband in 2000 she fell in love with the french language of flowers, that is. she went back for classes, then translat h flair for floral design into a little shop in her kitchen. in 2009, she heard about the job at the obama white house. >> it's not like it's posted on 1800 jobs or something. what happened was that i just ended up sending a letter of inquiry and a resume to the white house. i was so surprised when i did get an e-mail saying that i was a semifinalist. >> reporter: this design won the face-off. laura dowling's first big challenge the obamas first state dinner for the prime minister of india. >> we felt like it was such a beautiful decor, the apple green linens with the purple flowers. >> reporter: but it seems that all people remembered when it was over were the gate crashers and generally no one visits the white house who doesn't remember