(Lack of) Impulse Control

Aritzia tank (similar)
Realisation Par… skirt
Steve Madden sandals
Chanel handbag
Celine sunglasses
Muru Jewellery necklace (c/o)
Keltie Leanne Designs ring (c/o) (similar)
Madewell rings
Old Navy earrings (c/o Ivanhoe Cambridge)
Location: BellMTS Corporate Office – Winnipeg, Manitoba

For someone who thrives on routine and order, I can be shockingly spontaneous. Take Coco & Vera as an example; I launched the site the same week that I came up with the (at the time relatively limited) concept for it, and took the first set of outfit photos the same day. Despite the fact that it was after dark. The impulse struck, and I felt powerless to resist. Or maybe I just didn’t want to.

Impulse control is on my mind because on Saturday, I caved to another impulse that came on seemingly out of nowhere: going to New York. As soon as possible. What started with a casual glance at a pop-up window in my browser turned into a full-fledged need to get to NYC in the next few months. To make matters worse, WestJet seemed to be practically giving flights away – return fares were less than $300 per person! Cue me making frantic arrangements to book the last of my vacation days from work and essentially poking Ian every two seconds for three days, asking if he was ready to book flights yet.

Once the impulse struck, New York was all I could think about – and I couldn’t rest until we booked, which we finally did on Saturday evening. I couldn’t resist. Or maybe I just didn’t want to. Either way, I was so excited that I woke up in the middle of the night on Saturday and couldn’t sleep for thinking about how we’ll be so close to Brooklyn Bridge that we can visit every morning for four full days.

My love affair with New York was a slow burn, not a lightning strike. I think I’ve talked about it before – my first trip at eighteen, which I spent congested and consuming Advil Cold & Sinus tablets like candy, the days and sights blending together in my illness-added brain. Mom and I went together; we travelled together a lot when I was in my late teens. My brother’s interest in seeing the world waned around that time and Dad was perfectly happy to stay home with him while we went off gallivanting. Hilarity often ensued, but never more than on that trip, when I lost Mom at the Met. Most of those trips seem like a blur now, but New York especially – the impulse to go was always strong, but at that age, I valued just getting away more than I valued the experiences I had in new places.

After that trip, I didn’t get back to New York until 2015. Ian had never been. I admit I don’t recall exactly, aside from the prospect of staying in a very affordable suite at a very new hotel in Brooklyn, made us choose New York for that trip instead of another city. But we did, and we spent a wild week stumbling from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, eating pizza and perogies and, despite the fact that our luggage went missing for two days, we had a great time. Still, I didn’t expect to rush back.

…but then, the following year, invitations to NYFW began to arrive early. CHANEL, J. Crew, Club Monaco… basically all my favourites. How could I resist? In the end, it was a learning experience, and I realised pretty quickly that Fashion Week isn’t for me. But we still had a once in a lifetime adventure that I will never regret.

By the time you’ve been to New York two years in a row, it starts to feel a bit like a routine. I admit that by the time we were heading home from NYFW, a little voice in the back of my head was quietly asking when we could go back again. But we had pretty serious European travel plans for the following year, so my expectations were low. Two years in a row in New York, I thought – that was really fun, but it will probably be a while before I get back again.

We were meeting a contractor in our new Winnipeg apartment when the email came in. It was August 2017. At first, I was confused. I remember stalling in my office, reading and rereading the message while the contractor waited. Could I really have been invited to New York for an EOS event? The answer proved to be yes. The event was the same week as my brother-in-law’s wedding. But the pull of New York was so strong that I immediately said yes – and figured out how I could make it to both events later.

I can only describe visiting New York for twenty-eight hours as total chaos. But total chaos of the best kind. We had major flight delays and crazy weather, but none of it mattered. I was just so thrilled to be back unexpectedly.

After three years in a row of NYC visits, my impulse to book a trip in 2018 was unbearably strong. I must have searched flights to New York two dozen times. But the timing and budgeting never worked. And until last week, it looked like things would be much the same in 2019. Getting to NYC from Winnipeg is neither straightforward nor economical most of the time. For Ian’s birthday, we picked Minneapolis instead. (That trip was another impulsive choice, I admit it – we booked two weeks ahead. No regrets.) So when good flights at a reasonable price finally came up, I practically felt obligated to buy tickets.

Am I impulsive? At times, definitely. Sometimes so much that it actually surprises me. But those impulse decisions never seem to steer me wrong… after all, if I hadn’t made one nine years ago, I wouldn’t be writing about all the others I’ve made now.