Heat Running App

I was so chuffed when I was contacted by the lovely Arya  ceo and co-founder of Heat Running and asked to trial a new fitness app that they had created, of course I jumped at the chance....
The Heat Running app is the first competitive and social running app that is available, this app allows runners of all levels to compete in races/marathons or just leisurly runs against each other, combining competition, gamification, fitness and motivation all into one of the most exciting app that I have ever seen on the market.

This fabulous app was set up by two personal trainers Arya Farzin and Joesph Phillips, Ayra's own struggles with obesity and the fact that he had realised that no other running app provided the motivation and support that had helped him to loose 200lb had encouraged them to put together this genius idea. they both set out to create a unique app that provided a level of competition and motivation that was previously unavailable.
Heat Running app is the only app that allows and actually encourages direct competition among its users by adding a social component instead of a computer generated one as most other running apps do. This app creates a virtual racing environment that allows you to enter head to  head competitions, bringing out your competitive side of course.

Bringing a social element to running some-how made me so so competitive,I mean in no way was I a runner before taking part in this trial, I secretly hated the thought of running to be quite honest, but once I actually started using the app and started competing against others I found myself starting to enjoy it and even looked forward to my runs each evening just to try and better my own times.
One of the apps mottos is "unlock your animal" urging you to go from an egg to eventually a cheetah, and by god I did (hahah) I was like an animal possessed by the end of it all and god only knows what people where thinking that had seen me when i was out on a run because I  was doing victory dances and all when I had won, not a pretty sight let me tell you that.

By making running into some sort if a game the Heat Running app slyly fools you into making running fun and more approachable for little beginners as myself, but this app would sit well even with professionals like athletes as-well.
These guys have a fantastic following on their social media sights, why dont you join the other 49.9K and give them a little like or follow on Facebook, Instagram and twitter.
 Heat Running is currently available for download on Apple App store

but unfortunately is not yet available for download for Android devices, but plans are to offer a version for Android in the future.
I found this app so fun to use and anything that can boost fitness is always a winner. I had downloaded the app on an Iphone 6+ , as you all know the phone is huge and running with it wasn't an issue to me at all. I recommend that you all give it a try, it is amazing and I know you will all love it as much as I did. I will list all their details below so you guys can check it all out for yourselves,
Website - http://www.heatrunningapp.com
Their fab Story -  http://heatrunningapp.com/about
Twitter - http://twitter.com/HEATrunning
Facebook - http://facebook.com/heatrunning
Instagram - http://instagram.com/heatrunning

For now my lovlies its love, hugs and kisses from Little Paintedme xxxooo.

hand-made birthday gift

My baby sister turned 21 today, but when it came to deciding what to get her I hit a brick wall as I wanted it be special, so after scouring through the internet looking for inspiration I came across a post on Pinterest, it was an idea called Open When....

I automatically knew this is what I wanted to do.

Not only would it mean alot as it was all going to be handmade but I would also be able to personalise it for her. 

Let me explain a bit more, The Open When gift is...you have a number of envelopes, on the front you write at the top corner "open when" then you choose what follows, for me I had 21 different topics as it was her 21st, I started with an open now envelope, inside I detailed exactly what she had to do with each, why I chose it as a gift and also gave some rules . E.g only open each envelope when needed. They went from open when ... your feeling grumpy,  in which inside I place a hand written letter (which I placed in each) aswell as loads of chocolate .

To Open When ... your feeling lucky, inside I placed a lottery scratch card, and I was so chuffed as when she scratched it she had won £100 .

To make this gift I used, large brown envelopes, star confetti, stick glue,black marker, aswell as the neon paper for the hearts,title and topics, and I also placed one of my favourite quotes on the back of each envelope, just to personalise it more.

The gifts inside ranged from chocolates,money,acrylic nails voucher, false lashes to joke ones which had bubble wrap for stress relief etc. I placed them all in a gift box to give to her so she could keep them and look over as and when she wanted.

I knew that because of some of the topics that I had done up for her that she would get some what emotional , which of course she did, but this just showed me how much it actually meant to her.
You can tailor this idea to suit you , you can do it for someone leaving for college, getting married, moving country . you can choose to have more or less envelopes, different sizes, colours, the list is endless but can I just say that it is the most meaningful present I think I have ever given to anyone and one that I will always remember making .
I hope you all enjoy remaking this little idea for your loved ones but for now my lovlies its love , hugs and kisses from Little Paintedme xxxooo

Our visit to Tropical World in Letterkenny

There is nothing better than getting the kiddies out and about on long boring days, and a little road trip is our favourite way to entertain the wee ones.
Yesterday we decided to take a drive to Letterkenny to visit Tropical World butterfly house and mini zoo

Having heard so much about it from family members who have went before we felt that we were missing out. Being so close to home Im suprised that we hadn't heard more about it to be honest,  Can I just start off by saying what an amazing place this is, for children and adults alike.

Our first stop off was in the new Dino Den, this was a room set up to look like a scene from Jurassic park, filled with dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes, along the side were cages with nests inside filled with dinosaur eggs, it looked sooo realistic. There was even a mini excavation site set up for the children to dig up and discover there own dinosaur bones, such an amazing place for their little imaginations to run free.

This then lead us through to the Butterfly House and for anyone that knows me personally will of course know that I am obsessed with butterflies (hense the Little Painted Lady Blog name) so I felt right at home inside the butterfly house, such a stunning array of species of all shapes,sizes and colours, and to be able to walk through their own little butterfly haven was just fantastic, although my youngest had a little freak out as one of the butterflies took a little shine to him and kept trying to perch itself on top of his head, which i found hilarious of course (bad mummy). Poor child.

After exiting the Butterfly house, we were then lead  into a mini zoo, in here the children were able to see a tonne of different animals,  from Monkeys to Owls, Prairie Dogs to Meerkats , Snakes to Scorpians , Parrots to Tortoises, the list goes on,there were just soo many to mention , the Parrots though had to be my childrens favourites, the colours of them alone were just stunning

.
Needless the say after troopsing the kiddies around for an hour , they were getting hungry,we brought our own picnic and we were able to sit in the seating area just beyond the gift shop, but if you do visit and forgot to pack goodies then there is a gorgoeus vintage Cafe/tearoom situated inside the premises called Thyme Out, they will cater for everything from Tea/coffee to homemade lunches, definately 10/10
our last stop was the childrens soft play area, great for a final little pitstop to finish the day off, my son loved the obstacle course , while the girls loved the giant board games on the tables.

I honestly cant praise this place enough, if you ever need a day to you wind with your children then I urge you to pay Tropical World a visit, you wont be disappointed!! Below I will list their web address/twitter , admissions fees and opening hours for you to have a look over.

WEBSITE http://tropicalworld.town.ie/app/index.php/page/home
TWITTER http://twitter.com/tropicalworldlk
I hope you all have a fantastic day but for now its love , hugs and kisses from Little Paintedme xxxooo

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

I confess........I LOVE Propercorn

Hi lovlies
               This week i received thee best package ever in the post, this little beauty...

Having joined Propercorn on periscope a few weeks back I thought I would be cheeky and ask a few team members if it would be possible to review some of their fab popcorn product, and can i just add what a stunning team they have in Propercorn headquarters and Luckily for me they kindly agreed to send me a little package.
I was super shocked when the parcel arrived just to see the array of flavours that they had sent! and not to mention the super cute note that Rebecca had sent with it,just a beautiful personal touch.
I mean omg whoever thought of these flavours can i just say that YOUR A GENIUS!!

I just love the packaging aswell, such vibrant colours ! I have to say though my favourite flavour has to be the coconut and vanilla, slightly obsessed with coconut flavours and scents anyway but jesus these just taste like heaven,the little bonus for me is that they are low in calories too, how fab is that!! My kiddies on the other hand lovvvvveeeee the sweet and salty, they even added that they taste much better than cinema popcorn (hahaha) thats an amazing compliment believe me .
I just want to thank Propercorn so much for sending me this fantastic little box of goodies, go check them out guys on twitter and instagram, give them a little follow, say hello , you wont be disappointed thats for sure. http://twitter.com/propercorn http://instagram.com/propercorn
I hope you all have a "proper" amazing Friday whatever you may be up to, but here we are packing for our holidays tomorrow, so for now its love , hugs and kisses from LittlePainted me xxxooo

Easy Peasy sweet potato , ginger and lime soup

Hi my lovlies

         I tried out this delicious recipe a few months ago and just had to share it with you all, this has to be the nicest soup I have ever tasted ,So fresh and suprisingly filling.

First of all you will need..

4 sweet potatoes (peeled&chopped)

3 tbsp of olive oil

2 onions (peeled&chopped)

Roughly 5cm of root ginger (peeled&chopped)

1 clove of garlic (peeled&chopped)

1.1 ltr of chicken / vegetable stock

Juice and zest of 2 limes

225ml of creme freich 

Method

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the chopped onions and cook until soft and slightly see through. Next add the ginger and garlic and cook again for a further few minutes. Add the chopped sweet potato , cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally to ensure the ingredients don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Stir in the stock and allow to simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then liquidize and add the lime zest, juice, creme fresh and serve.

It is as easy as that and takes around 30 minutes and thats including prep. 

Hope you all enjoy, but for now its love , hugs and kisses from littlepainted me xxxooo