“You can’t plan crazy,” my brother, Philip, informed us at dinner our first night in New York last weekend after we asked him what he had in store for us.

Being an over-planner who had spent the last six months planning an adults-only escape to the Big Apple with my husband, I had to pause at my wiser, younger, single, childless brother’s words.

So far I had done nothing but plan for the trip, pretty crazy stuff, too. From extensive research of Greenwich Village apartment rentals that landed us in the heart of the Village in a 150-year-old building that (like most things old) drooped significantly in the middle, to the purchase of, immediate buyer’s remorse over and miraculous resale of two tickets to the “Spider-Man” musical, this trip had been planned and re-planned numerous times.

I amassed a two-page typed list of restaurants, printed out and folded neatly into my purse. I had reserved tickets for me and my husband to see Oprah(‘s designer, Nate Berkus’ new TV show). And my brother’s girlfriend, a fellow planner, had secured four tickets to a supposedly sold-out “The Book of Mormon.”

By the end of Thursday night, though, we had plowed through Nate Berkus, taken a photo in Times Square and reacquainted ourselves with the subway system (thankfully before we ended up in New Jersey).

It seemed there were no more surprises left.

But I trusted my brother’s words and allowed crazy to happen, playing the rest of the weekend by ear, leaving most every hour open for the unexpected…

We saw Robin Williams play a dead tiger on Broadway. We sipped cocktails in an old speakeasy. We bought souvenirs from vendors on Bleecker Street.

And we received last-minute tickets to “Saturday Night Live” from a longtime (and quite hilarious) family friend.

As if staying up well past our bedtime wasn’t crazy enough, we witnessed Elton John’s first time on the show in nearly 30 years. Tom Hanks, Jake Gyllenhaal, Will Forte all popped up throughout the show. We watched the crew set up and tear down each scene like, as Jason Sudeikis so accurately described pre-show, a NASCAR pit crew.

When the taping ended, Elton John gave an encore as a thank-you to the cast and crew (and the fabulous audience) off camera, but I’m not sure I am allowed to put the name of the song in print. Think alliteration, rhymes with “witch,” and ends with “back.”

Flying high from this outstanding turn of events, we met my brother and some friends at a bar called Sing Sing where we rented a private karaoke room and entertained each other with hits from the ’80’s.

Until 4:30 in the morning.

Walking back to our West Village apartment, stopping for $1 pizza on the way and both laughing and cursing at ourselves for staying up so late, I realized Philip was right. We could not have planned it better if we’d tried.

And, trust me, crazy is even more fun when it finds you.