I made a commitment to shake things up this summer. It’s been harder to make this happen with a sick dad at home but I’m still pretty proud of the small amount of fun I was able to create. I’m a creature of habit and routine and I take lots of classes and work really hard and sometimes I forget to just have fun.

Which is why I created my Mondo Beyondo list.

Which I realized recently might come across as really self-centered. I mean, we can’t ALL make a Mondo Beyondo list. We can’t all travel to China and see the Mona Lisa and learn to parasail and isn’t it selfish to even write down that you want to do those things?

Well. No.

And it’s because ultimately, the Mondo Beyondo list is not necessarily about checking items off a list. Or doing things for ME and not for YOU. At its core, the Mondo Beyondo list is a reminder that the world contains some really awesome magical experiences. Sometimes you have to create those yourself. (I forget this.) And sometimes, the universe just bestows upon you some pretty kick ass gifts. The key is to be open to these and to acknowledge them, to take them and then send up some gratitude because life, after all, is beautiful.

CUE: YOU ARE THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS.

Anyway. I will be talking about Mondo Beyondo some more in another post because WHY NOT?

But this post, THIS POST! is about the Saturday I spent with my brother and sister-in-law a few weeks ago.

We started out having a late brunch and didn’t part until after midnight.

I love days like this.

And the whole reason it happened was because I called my brother and was all YOU OWE ME SOME COLD BREW COFFEE BECAUSE I BLOGGED ABOUT IT AND WE NEVER HAD IT AND YOU SUCK.

And Paul was all, COFFEE? WHERE?

And so it was.

We had brunch at Extra Virgin down on West 4th St. Highly recommend. I had a glass of Gavi di Gavi wine which pretty much makes any brunch awesome. Sophie is drinking a raspberry mojito. Highly recommend that as well.

Then we went for a walk and stumbled upon the newly opened Limelight market which is sort of like a mall built inside a church. It’s New York City. I can’t explain it.

And to think, all this time I’ve been giving my baby an UNorganic massage. I AM SUCH A FAILURE.

Sophie bought some kind of body scrub and a jug of white tea and Paul and I split a red velvet whoopie pie. You heard that correctly. Red. Velvet. Whoopie. Pie.

We finally stumbled out of the Limelight on a sugar high and walked toward the Ace Hotel for some Stumptown cold brew coffee. I had heard about this from a philosophy classmate a few months back and he had declared it hands down the best iced coffee of his life. I was all, OH PLEASE, HOW GOOD COULD IT BE?

Uh. That good, people. And cheap! I think $2.75 and they didn’t charge me extra for my soy milk. Always a plus in my book.

Paul had to turn away from the cashier so he wouldn’t totally geek out, took one sip and mouthed to me behind his hand OH MY GOD!!!

It was that delish.

Then we took our coffees (and Soph’s mocha) into the Ace Hotel lobby to sit on big couches and people watch. It was quite possibly the most wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

We even popped into the old school photobooth but couldn’t figure out how it worked. (WE ARE NOT THAT SMART.) So the first picture is of our shirts as we had no idea that the camera would start clicking and WHERE it was coming from. We also couldn’t manage to get Paul into any photo. Sophie looks like a newspaper boy and I look like something from Little House on the Prairie but what the heck else is new?

After our leisurely coffee sipping, we wandered down to Madison Square Park to see the “Event Horizon” art installation which involved statues of 31 men placed in the park and on the roofs of the buildings surrounding it. The best part was looking up and seeing these dudes watching you. Maybe it was creepy? But maybe it was awesome.

(I stole this picture from here as I didn’t get to take any photos of the dudes. PHOTOGRAPHY FAIL.)

Then Paul declared it “TIME TO EAT ASIAN FOOD” which is a regular occurrence with us Dlugs. We hit up some tasty Thai food in the East Village and I am still dreaming about their chive pancakes. STILL.

We ended our evening at my friend Mike’s bar at the cheesiest Mexican restaurant of all time in the West Village for some margaritas and Coronas. HOW CHEESY is this bar/restaurant, you ask? So cheesy that if it’s your birthday, they stop the music and play a blaring rendition of LA BAMBA as the disco balls and Christmas lights strewn around the restaurant flash.

OH. YES.

I’d call the day a total success. We had sibling quality time, tons of laughs and that cold brew coffee. Oh, I am dreaming of it still.

For a girl who usually spends Saturday sleeping in and then babysitting, this was the most excitement I’d had in awhile. It makes me so happy to say that spending time with family makes me really content. And that I would choose to hang out with my siblings even if we weren’t related.

That says a lot, I think.

It helps that my brother bought my brunch AND my dinner.

But that whoopie pie?

That whoopie pie was ALL ME.

YOU ARE WELCOME.