Realising how special family holidays are.

Having just come back from our little family holiday I have had time over the past few nights to sit down ,relax and go through the holiday pictures .
This year we went back to Log an tSeanti,

a holiday home in Derrybeg county Donegal in the west of Ireland,and even though this is just a mere hours drive from where I live it feels like a whole different part of the world. The house is situated so close to the sea and has only a handful of houses dotted around it

. I am so used to the hussle and bussle of living in a big city, so when we go there on holiday it feels so peaceful. The air is filled with the smell of the turf fires and sea air, such a homely place to stay, its hard to put into words just how I feel when I'm there
 This year we brought our extended family with us, children, mums, dads, sisters, aunts the whole works, we wanted to share this amazing place with them in the hope that they would love it as much as we did . They weren't disappointed, in fact my aunt cried as we were leaving (big softie) I think it was just the fact she could come away from all of her stresses for a week, leave all the worries in Derry, plus the fact that our phones or internet didn't work down there was a major bonus in my eyes, I don't know about you guys but I struggle to get a conversation from my crowd at times because they have there noses stuck in there phones scrolling through Facebook ,Twitter or Snapchat! don't get me wrong I'm as obsessed as the next person is with social media, but for them few days to be able to actually have proper conversation, oh my god ,it was bliss!
Thankfully while we were there we didn't have our typical Irish summer weather, we actually had some scorching sun shine,

The kids loved it because we could go to the beach every single day as it was practically on our door step, plus the sea air knocked them out at bed time so it was happy days for mummy as-well.
I have never seen such a stunning place, granted I have never travelled any further than England for holidays in the past .I know, I'm 31 and never been on a foreign holiday, but in all honesty why would you need to when we have absolutely amazing places like this in our own country, with stunning views to match I may add.
From our beach front we could see a number of little islands across the water,

 It is so breath taking just being able to see it all really, and the fact that we were spending precious time making memories with our family, made it all the better. Needless to say I took loads of holiday snaps, most being of my kiddies making sand castles, making my daughter a mermaid tail from sand

,my mum hunting for shells with my two youngest children, and our family just being together, having fun.

words cant explain how happy and content that makes me feel.it really is the simple things in life.
what is your idea of an ideal holiday? do leave me a little comment and share.
I hope you all have an amazing day, whatever you may be up to, but for now its love, hugs and kisses from Little PaintedMe xxxooo.

Ashamed to be in my own skin.

Hi lovlies
             I'm only just back from my fab wee holiday but because of limited internet access I was not able to publish til i came home.I couldn't think of a better time than to discuss the #stoptheshame campaign that stellar.ie started around 8 weeks ago that I had only come across before I left for my holiday might i add (where have i been) 

Seeing girls being able to walk around a beach in front of everyone with a little bikini on makes me want to throw on a huge woolly jumper and become a little holiday hermit and never show my body again....I have to confess I am 31 years old , I'm a mummy of 4 and i have never ever worn a bikini EVER! Don't get me wrong I  would absolutely love to prance around on holiday in a skimpy little two piece but unfortunately the little image demon in my head tells me other wise, 

 The reason being that While I was pregnant my skin stretched so bad that I was left with an awful amount of stretch marks and loose skin all across my stomach to the point where it just looks like I have skin of an old lady now, my belly button has become non existent  because of the loose skin that hangs above it. I refer to my stretch marks as my "tiger stripes" that I earned while carrying my babies though , I lovingly  tell my children that it's a little map to show where they have come from. I know I must sound like such a moaner and that a lot of women would give a limb just to have the "tiger stripes" that I have, yet here I am crying about them !  they just make me feel so unattractive... disgusting in fact! I don't feel comfortable with my husband to be even seeing my body, I still cover my tummy with my hands so he cant see it. As a 31 year old woman I should feel super sexy and have a nice toned tummy, not ashamed to show off at all. Jesus I don't even feel comfortable enough to take my kiddies to the swimming pool wearing a one piece because I feel like everyone can see my saggy old lady tummy and feels repulsed, now I know that people are not that bad but in my mind I feel like their eyes are burning through me.
I have and still am in fact considering cosmetic surgery just to remove the excess skin around my stomach,  no one knows how amazing that would make me feel about myself,and  if that's not self body shame then I  don't know what is. I know though that its 50% for my own self esteem issues and 50% for acceptance in society when I do eventually get the nerve to venture out in a bikini in the future. How wrong is that though, i shouldn't feel like I need to cover myself up so not to disgust others or myself, I want to say good ridings to this body shame of mine once and for all, I want to be able to flaunt my belly to the world and if the only way I can do that is by shouting from the roof tops #stoptheshame then so bloody be it. Ladies/gents/world here is my tummy, stretch marks and all! 

Im sorry if it repulses you but if I can show you all this then its a hugeeee step in the right direction ,I just want to be able to say to each and every one of you, be proud of your stretch marks ladies, each one tells a little story of it's own, and believe me we bloody well earned them!! I hope this gives other women that feel the same way about their body the courage to show off their tiger stripes too

 I hope you all have an amazing day whatever your up to, but for now its love,hugs and kisses from Littlepainted me xxxooo

gorgeous hair with no hassle

Hi my lovlies
A while back I watched a video on instagram of a lady using a magic little gadget on her hair,it was like a guide she used to french braid her own hair. I thought this was a fantastic product and decided to try it out for myself because there is times I see demos of products on t.v and think ohhhh that looks so easy then i receive it and I might aswell blindfold myself and tie my hands behind my back, like come on its just ridiculous.
 It almost looked like a little plastic wriggly worm, (great description) so I Googled and found out its called a Shang Du and it was on Amazon for 89p with free postage and packaging, this is buttons like so what had I got to loose .

It was delivered a few days ago, it was really fast postage considering it came from china. I couldn't wait to test it out for myself but I wasn't pro enough to trial it on my own hair just yet as I thought it would be sooo awkward. So instead I used my little 8 year old daughter Amelia as her hair is super long and really thin, my way of thinking was I needed to try challenge the gadget in some ways to try and find its faults , and what better way than thin hair. Well wasn't I wrong!! Oh my god this was soooo easy even my daughter could have done her own hair!! Each little loop holds the hair perfectly in place without any hassle what so ever and her hair looked like it took me hours, I was sooooo pleased with myself I was showing everyone. (Such a show off) .below is a before and after picture of Amelias hair.

The Shang Du did slip a little through out the day but I think this was down to the fact her hair was freshly washed this morning. I would suggest maybe 2nd or 3rd day hair. It would be an amazing little extra to slip in your luggage to take on holiday for them lazy sunny days by the beach sipping on cocktail. I would highly recommend this little product to everyone Its just FAB!!!
I hope you all have a fantastic day but for now girlies its love , hugs and kisses from littlepainted me xxxooo.

fab beach hair

Today i re-created a look i did yesterday on my hair using Parlour by Jeff Chastain, this product is a texturisin sea salt spray, i received this with julys birchbox. Firstly can i add that this smells amazing! I almost want to say that it has a scent almost like outdoors,flowers and freshly cut grass, its such an odd way to describe the smell of a product but if you already have this or tried it before then you will know exactly what I mean.
I first used this product yesterday, I was running super late for work and I did not have time to dry my hair after my shower, so instead I spritzed the product all over my damp hair, left it for a little minute then scrunched it to created a wavy look.I finished it off by plaiting the two front sections of my hair and pinning them back from my face,I set this in place with a little spray of Fudge's raspberry and vanilla hairspray which i purchased in my local suoermarket for £4.49. Can I tell you I got complements alllll day on my "beach look" hair, not quite sure that this was the look I was aiming for but hey if people love it then I'll have me some of that. Hehe.
This can be a Little bit pricey at £17 for a full size bottle but I believe it is worth every single penny. It would be perfect for while on holiday and you don't want to be spending ages on your hair, quick spray and a tousle of the locks and your good to.go. this is a cruelty free product and can also be used on coloured hair, so with me having multicoloured bleached and darkened hair then its a perfect product for me and I know that it is definately my new "go to" hair product for perfect lazy Sunday hair.
Hope you all have f

ab Sunday but for now its Love, hugs and kisses from LittlePainted Me xxxooo