ADVENTURES IN HARLEM - GUNS AND MIMOSAS

Adventures in Harlem

I love Harlem!! It really does make for great adventures. In a span of 24 hours my heart has raced as I ran inside to avoid getting shot and then had the laziest day in the sun while elevating my messed up foot!

Ok so I realize I need to explain last night... Last night I decided I would crash at a girlfriends house after the whole break down of our security door debacle just because I really needed to sleep and NOT worry about homeless crackheads, the crazy cat lady or roaches crawling in my ears and up my nose while I sleep, because, yes, those have been my recurring nightmares this past week. So I am sitting outside on my friend's stoop talking to my mom, the super lives below my friend's apartment and can sometimes get a little crazy if she hears any sort of noise. While I'm chatting with my mama a police car starts driving down the one way street outside her door in the wrong direction. Then, after he is half way down the street he decides to turn on his lights. So of course. I am trying to see what commotion is taking place. After all, there had been a lot of yelling and gathering of people over the past few minutes. Well, nothing exciting was happening, at least at this point, so I quickly lost interest. That is, until a small black car drove by (going the correct direction down the street) then right before they got to the traffic light they threw the car in reverse then came speeding backwards. The car lurched into park and three VERY large men jumped out of the car and reached behind them into their pants as this scrawny kid on the sidewalk froze in his tracks! Two of the guys rushed over to him as the third guy turned around and made eye contact with me. OBVIOUSLY, I was already jetting to the door struggling to get in.... I mean after all I wash't in the mood to get shot last night!!! I rushed in as my friend was coming out to meet me in which my response was shaking my head "NO" several times and rushed her to the window to spy. They napped the guy and took off!!! So I decided in order to sleep better, they were under cover cops and the driver was surveilling the area to see who was around and make sure the area was safe in case bullets went flying.... And if it wasn't that, then, they decided that the random blonde girl saw too much and could ID them so they'd grab the guy and kill him somewhere else....

Then today... It was so lovely! I injured my foot last week and can hardly walk still. I haven't been able to work for days and am going stir crazy from sitting at home elevating and icing it. So today, what better way to do that than to sit outside on the stoop in our bathing suits socking in the glorious sun, elevating and drinking mimosas as the several NYC tour buses drive down the block!!! One would think they were in a foreign country taking pics of some 10,000 year old shrine!!! They were literally stopping outside the building and waiving and taking pics!!! We became the scene you only see in movies. Quite hilarious but just as entertaining for us as it was for them! And, I FINALLY got some color out of it... And even better, the absolute laziness that took place is finally paying off and my foot isn't the size of a watermelon.

Oh Harlem.... It can make your heart race in so many ways from dodging crime to feeling like a celebrity.... All I know is it just adds to my New York Adventure story book in more ways than one!