It was 9am on a Wednesday and I was in the checkout line at Target frantically flipping through the latest issue of HGTV Magazine when I let out a squeak as I saw the word "habitationco" staring back at me from the center of a glossy page. There, in tiny text, just below a close-up of this basket, was the name of my dream business that I had imagined one afternoon, about two years ago. There was the website url I ended up going with when my first choice (same, just minus the "co") was taken by someone in France. There was the description for a basket I picked out, that was made by women in Rwanda who are supporting their families by sharing their gifts with the world. In an instant my mind was flooded with how many details, decisions, and hands it took, for me to be able to stand in an empty Target checkout line on a Wednesday morning and look down at that page- one photo, those few words (66 characters!)- and experience one of the coolest moments of this journey so far.

Obvs, nothing like this has happened in my business before, and since I've been getting a few questions about how this all came to be, I figured I would share exactly how Habitation Co.'s baskets ended up in HGTV Magazine. A few months ago I got an email (specifically, a contact-form via the website, which no one had ever used before...) asking if I could send a variety of baskets to Texas for an upcoming photoshoot/house tour for the magazine. Assuming this was either an elaborate ploy to steal a few baskets or, more likely, a mistake, I called the number on the email and left a voicemail for an editor at Hearst Corporation in New York City. She called me the next day and assured me this was "legit", and said another editor had found Habitation Co. on Pinterest! So after we hung up, I stuck their pre-paid shipping label on a box of baskets and immediately sent them off to Texas! The following week, the baskets arrived back on my porch. About a month later, I got another email asking if I could send one of the baskets to the HGTV headquarters in New York to be photographed for their "Get the Look" feature, which meant they were planning on including the baskets in the home tour! So, again, off the basket went, this time to NYC, and again, showed back up at my house about two weeks later. I had been told that "if" my baskets made it into the magazine (there's always a chance things could change at the last minute), they would be part of the November issue with a release date sometime in October, so I just had to wait. And then! I got a text last weekend from a sweet friend (and loyal HGTV Mag. subscriber) who spotted Habitation Co. in the magazine, so as soon as they hit newsstands, I went to Target!

Everyone at HGTV Magazine has been incredible to work with- super responsive and thoughtful throughout the entire process. (They even sent me a PDF with the full feature so I could share it here!) I have no idea what it's like on the other side of the camera, or how it felt for the family to have their home filled with random people and products, or how many details actually go into planning each house-tour (my guess is a whole lot), but all I can say, from this side, is that having a tiny part in this process was a milestone for my business, at the exact moment I needed it. And you better believe that the next time I come across the name of another small business, shop, or artist in a magazine, I'm going to give them one heck of a virtual high-five! Know that when you shop small or support a small business, it's a really BIG deal. With every purchase, you're literally making someone's freaking day (it seriously never, ever gets old), and you're causing a happy-dance ripple effect in kitchens, studios, basements, garages, and living rooms around the world. You matter. Your choices matter, your voice matters- you aren't just another sale or a number, you're an essential part of the story. And you're awesome. OK, NOW LOOK HOW PRETTY: