How to get LOST....

Sorry TV fans - I'm not referring to the show "Lost".
I really mean how to get lost. Not in a rude way either!

Today I needed a day off from being a mom. I needed a day for me and figured I would go downtown and look for shoes for an up-coming party we're going to. I didn't bring a lot of clothing OR shoes with me to Finland - figuring I'd get what I need as I needed it. I have a pair of Adidas sneakers (not the running kind) from a friend, a pair of winter boots I brought and my mesh sneakers (more like hiking sandal-shoe?). Not very dressy for a dissertation party if you ask me!

I sent a message out to my friends, Sini and Johanna, to see if there was any interest in going shopping with me...as I enjoy shopping alone but with friends is better. Especially when it comes to shoes - I need motivation! I hate shoes in general as my feet are wide and flat. BLEGH!
Sini's out of town so Johanna suggested I meet her and some of her friends, not downtown, but in a different direction!
It was actually the same route I took on a bus last week with Tim and the baby to go visit a friend, so I felt very confident in getting there without getting lost. I did it no problem!

I found a spring coat (didn't wear one today at all - stupid me...it was quite chilly!) for under 20 Euros (I love Prisma and City Market!) and got some other groceries. Johanna had left her bike at the university - so we decided to walk together on the way back.
Here's the funny part. We walked for quite awhile and I didn't recognize anything - I just didn't remember walking by so many houses! So then we realized that it was Johanna's first time being in that area (or one of the first) and my complete first. Oh dear... we're lost.
We walk a bit further on - and then I remembered something crucial! I have a map! So we look at the map and we're quite far away from the main road that I originally took to get to the shops. Turns out that neither of us are very good at maps - but obviously Johanna is the better one, since I am presently at home in my pajamas....
About 20 minutes later - I could see the main road! How exciting!!!!
The downfall? We had to go down a very steep woodsy hill to get to it.
Johanna insists there must be a path but we can't see one - so carefully we go down the hill....
We walk ahead about 50 steps and what do you suppose we find?
A FREAKING PATH! Oh well - we got our exercise for the day.

I'm honestly surprised she didn't kill me. But she had a good point - we had our groceries with us - so the worst thing that could've happened is that we would've had a picnic somewhere.

In other news, V�in� crawled a bit today...it looked painful because he'd scooch his bum up in the air and have his face flat on the floor....and then stretch out and he'd move forward an inch or so. But we're making progress!
He's a potty whiz!! Tim finally caved and did the pottying with V�in� today while I was gone and had great success! Apparently Tim doesn't make any "psssssssssssssst" sounds and V�in� just does his thing. We've been using disposables a lot lately because of V�in� not being consistent with his bowel movements. It sucks rinsing a cloth diaper - but we'll do it if it happens of course! That, and it's harder to strip him fast enough to use the potty -if he has a cloth diaper and a plastic cover on top of that... but so far we've been able to get V�in� to potty 2 or 3 times before having to change the diaper!

And no I didn't find any shoes that I liked and that were comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Maybe next time!