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GREENSBORO — The sweet smell of flowers is thick in Yvonne Johnson's office.

A big bouquet sits on her desk next to the phone, which held 29 messages by the time she got to her downtown office.

And the media keep calling for interviews. TV stations. NPR. The newspaper.

Things like that tend to happen when you win an election for mayor. It doesn't hurt when you make history by becoming your city's first black mayor.

Still, Wednesday was largely a low-key day for the city's mayor-elect.

Johnson didn't go out of her way to bask in congratulations, preferring instead to spend the day at home and in her office, which sits hard up against the railroad tracks that go under Eugene Street.

If anything, she was feeling a little tired after months of steady campaigning and a long election night.

"We didn't take anything for granted," Johnson said.

The night before was something of a whirlwind for her, watching the returns come in at the courthouse, then a celebration at the Carolina Theatre, and finally staying up until 2 a.m. talking with friends at home.

Still, she got up at her normal time and did a radio interview at 8 a.m. Calls, visits and flowers from well-wishers rolled in all day.

After multiple terms on the City Council, the 65-year-old Johnson finally is firmly in the city's political spotlight.

In the afternoon, a van from a florist pulled up to the office of One Step Further, the non-profit agency Johnson leads.

The receptionist had left, so Johnson walked down the hall from her office to take the flowers.

As the delivery man came in, he recognized the city's new mayor.

"Congratulations!" he said.

Johnson said she didn't really have the thought Wednesday, "Wow, it's cool to be the mayor."

Instead, she's thinking about being even more busy.

"It's going to be a lot of work," she said. "But it's going to be fun and challenging."

Johnson also had thought about the historic aspects of her victory and that she had done something that hadn't been done before.

Race still is an issue in this country, she said, but it doesn't dominate everything she does, either.

Still, she likes to point out that the city has almost 90 ethnic groups and makes it clear that she wants to make sure everyone is included.

"It's a richness that we have that we need to really celebrate," she said. "Not only celebrate, but incorporate into the real life and heart of the city and how it functions."

She's also thinking about ways to build working relationships with the council as she prepares to begin serving next month.

But there's time for all that.

By Wednesday afternoon, Johnson was ready for a quiet evening.

After months of knocking on doors and speaking at community meetings, she wanted to resume her usual evening routine, at least for a night.

That would mean sitting down for dinner, reading for a while, and maybe watching a little TV, maybe a rerun of "The Cosby Show" or "The Golden Girls," something funny.

Just a quiet night at home.

"I'm looking forward to it," she said.

Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or jhardin@news-record.com