I have loved looking through my Italy Instagram photos for these posts.

I didn’t pick up my camera very often and I have to admit that using mainly my phone made me enjoy the moments more.

I want to make a book with all of the Italy Instagram photos and I will let you know what company I go with (and how it turns out).

We are now on days 5, 6, 7 and 8.

You can read about the previous days HERE and HERE.

On day 5 Kelly and I started it with a cappuccino in the beautiful breakfast room of the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni.

I loved that we had our own routine and even the waiters knew us each morning.

Teresa Collins taught a scrapbook journal class and I later taught a painting class.

It was a full day of creating!

After class Kelly and I headed to the pool for a few hours before we met up with everyone at dinner.

We had a beautiful meal on the patio of Restaurante Bilacus.

{on Instagram everyone teased that this looked like a scene from a soap opera}

As you can tell our group got along VERY well!

The next morning we all met bright and early for a day excursion to Como.

I enjoy the smaller villages around the lake more than the larger city of Como but it was full of beautiful images that I couldn’t stop wanting to capture.

{I even found an art supply shop}

I stopped to see George on our way back to Bellagio and he sends his love:-)

I was so tired from the day of walking all over Como and then the long ferry ride put me right to sleep.

Once we arrived back in Bellagio we were enjoying an afternoon rain.

That evening I had an amazing dinner all alone with my boyfriend.

It was so nice to have the quiet of the evening together to just talk about this incredible area and our dreams to come back with our children.

The next day started off with the last class by Teresa Collins and the afternoon was spent at the beach.

I still can’t believe I captured this photo of Kelly diving into Lake Como.

This has to be framed and saved forever!

You couldn’t have paid me to dive into water where I can’t see the bottom.

Creeps!

The grand finale of the retreat was dinner at Mistral.

Every thing was so beautifully presented and the ice cream make using liquid nitrogen was awesome!

As cappuccinos were being served they asked us to come outside for a surprise.

We all made our way to the pergola overlooking Lake Como.

Waiting for us was the men’s choir of Bellagio and they gave us a concert in Italian.

That night as we climbed into bed it was sad to know that it was over.

We were also excited though because the next morning a new adventure would begin for just the two of us….

We were off to Florence!