The Zick Experiment . . .

Not too long ago Caitlin Zick and I were hanging out talking mom talk while our kids were playing at the park after a Capital MOMS event. As we were catching up on life, she told me about her last date with Cole. She explained to Cole how every mom desires to have some alone time in the aisles of Target (well almost every- I'm sure there are some exceptions to the rule). Trying to please his wife, he came up with a great date idea. They headed to target with one goal in mind. Each had $10 to spend on each other in a 30 minute time period. (If you think about it - it's the basic cost of going to a movie but a little more memorable.) Then they were to meet back at the Starbucks in the front of the store and exchange gifts. Cole ended up getting Cait a new shirt and she got him a new DVD to add to his collection. They both were thrilled with the surprise gifts and it made for a great way to express love, appreciation and just enjoy time spent together.

That date idea sounded like so much fun, I thought we should give it a whirl. We were out for dinner and a movie (we had a gift card from Christmas) and had a few minutes to kill and there just happened to be a Target within walking distance. So I gave Joe the challenge and he accepted. We set the rules for $10 in 10 minutes (we had a limited time before the movie started) and we were off. Confession: I actually got distracted in the first minute in the dollar spot with items for the kids and had to remind myself what I was there for.

I've been thinking about what I would get Joe in Target ever since my conversation with Cait. Literally the only items I've ever bought for him from this store were necessities. I've bought food, deodorant, cleaning supplies (yes for him not for me), shaving gel and that's about it. I could think of several items to get for myself (aren't we all so selfish in nature) and for the kids, but I was having the hardest time with him. If you know my husband at all, he kind of has expensive taste (sorry babe). He doesn't really tend to buy knick knack things and if he ever wanted anything- he would just go out and get it for himself. I wracked my brain. Do I get him a new book? (We used to enjoy reading before kids) Do I get him some type of workout paraphernalia? (He's kind of into that right now) I could get him a card? (But I would need more than 10 minutes to write something good in it to make it worthwhile for this experiment). Should I go to the clothing section? (He loves clothes, but I didn't have enough time to go through the target racks).

So, in my lame attempt to grab something special I hijacked Caitlin's idea to get a movie. (I don't know the last time I've ever bought a movie. Joe really doesn't have a movie collection he's aspiring to create- but I went with it.) We had talked at dinner about how we both had wanted to see the movie "Moneyball" with Brad Pitt. We missed it while it was in the theaters and it just came out on dvd. If you are thinking ahead, you are right. As a new release it was over the $10 budget. So not only did I hijack Caitlin's idea for her husband, I went over the limit for the experiment. Good news is - I have the Target debit card so I saved 5% (still didn't hit the spending limit) but I convinced Joe I did my best. He seemed authentically happy with my purchase. Hopefully it's a good movie. He was into baseball growing up- that was his sport- so it should be at least semi-interesting.

I have to admit- my husband more than passed on the experiment for me. I got to take home some new note cards and a super cute package of journals that I totally would have picked out. He then went on to brag that he finished the whole thing in 2 minutes time. I tried to justify his greatness with the fact that Target is way easier to shop for women than men- and then I gave up and realized that he's just great no matter what the circumstances.

Regardless, we had a fun time with the Zick Experiment and I would highly suggest testing it out yourself. You will be surprised with what you come up with I'm sure. If you do test it out- comment back on here and let me know what your purchase was!

Enjoy your next date night and make sure to stop by Target!