Sunday, December 30, 2012

Just going through some of my photos from our many trips to Lake Como, Italy and had the urge to post some random photos on here.

So just indulge me please...









































and one of my FAVORITES...

Well that was fun.  That is just a FEW of the 1,000's of photos I have of Lake Como.  I don't know how to take photos and have never taken a class or figured out my Nikon D80 camera, but I have to say these are pretty good for a total novice.  Hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane and are a tiny bit inspired to take a trip to this beautiful part of the world next summer with me...

There are still a couple spots left for an INCREDIBLE week on the shores of Lake Como.  I'm telling you, you will carry these memories with you for the rest of your life, I promise.  This place is MAGICAL, INSPIRING, BREATH-TAKING and is meant to be EXPERIENCED.

Have a wonderful New Years and I pray that you will have a very BLESSED 2013!!






Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Hi ladies!

It's ALMOST CHRISTMAS... A week from today, can you believe it?

I thought before we get to Christmas, I would take a minute to come on here and let you know that there are still spots available for BOTH Creative Retreats.




The one in Italy in June has only a few spots left (3 I think, unless I open it up to more IF I can get more apartments)  so you can start making payments on that retreat as soon as you like!  This is the CAN'T MISS retreat ladies...  I think I can say that it's a "once-in-a-lifetime" event and I know the ladies who went this past September sure felt that!  We had an INCREDIBLE week and next year is even going to be BETTER with the Festival di San Giovani!!  Don't wait... reserve your spot today!

In fact, if some of you are waiting to sign up until after all the Christmas shopping is done, DON'T WAIT!  I will go ahead an offer you the same thing I did for the ladies last year.  RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW FOR $100.00 and you will be GUARANTEED your spot will be held for you!!

That's a GREAT way to go ladies, b/c there's only a FEW spots left!  Just email me if this is something you'd like to do and I can send you a Paypal Invoice for the $100 and then we can start making payments after things settle down in the New Year.



Now as far as the Arizona Retreat, we are still open on that as well.  I think I have about 10 spots left and you can make payments on that retreat as well!  It's going to be an AMAZING weekend filled with some wonderful UNIQUE little "mini" events and I think you will really LOVE it!  I've had quite a few inquiries about this event and I know it may fill up soon too!  So if you want to do the same thing and RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW FOR $100, you can GUARANTEE your spot will be held for you!  Just email me and I can send you an invoice for the $100 through Paypal and you can start making your payments after the Holidays are settled down.

After the New Year I will going over more of the details of this Creative Retreat and start showing some SNEAKS from the classes!  I know you are going to LOVE this jam packed weekend of CREATIVENESS!!

Ok, I think that's a wrap on the updates...

I want to wish EVERYONE a JOYOUS Christmas and a VERY BLESSED New Year!!

Hugs,

Laura




Saturday, December 8, 2012

As Christmas approaches, I am feeling a little melancholy about Bellagio and wishing we could see it in beautiful "Buon Natale" time!  Our family has a love of Lake Como and Bellagio that runs deep and we were just at Macaroni Grill last night reminiscing about friends and memories from our trips there.  This morning I woke up to a photo that one of the ladies who came to my Creative Retreat in Italy this past September shared on Facebook of Bellagio and it made me SO happy!  Thank you Pam!!!
Here's the photo:


One of the beautiful stores in Bellagio and it's all dressed up for the Holidays!

What's so amazing is that we were just talking about how we wished we could see Bellagio at this time of year and were hoping some of our friends from Bellagio would post pictures!  Well, sure enough a FB PAGE all about Bellagio is posting pictures!  It's called Promo Bellagio and you can "friend" it on FB to see more pictures!  They also have a Pinterest Page with TONS of boards all about Bellagio.  It's a lot of fun to look at the photos (and I know YOU love Pinterest)  and it really makes me want to go back NOW...

Here's another photo from Promo Bellagio that I fell in LOVE with:




I know it's a bit blurry, but I just KNEW they would have Christmas lights strung up around the town!! One of these days we will need to make a trip just for Christmas to this magical place...

Well, I started looking at other photos they had and sure enough they had some photos I thought YOU would love to see of the Festival of San Giovani that WE WILL BE A PART OF NEXT JUNE!!  Yes, if YOU sign up for next Junes Creative Retreat, you will be taking part in this special Festival!!



There is a Torchlight Procession that starts at our Hotel, The Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni and walks through the town of Bellagio, through the Melzi Gardens and to the Church of San Giovani.  At the end is the lake front church and they have music, dancing, food and just a lot of FUN going on!  It's a VERY SPECIAL time that we have done with our daughters twice and is one of the MAIN REASONS I chose to plan next years Creative Retreat at this time of year! 

So DON'T MISS OUT...  Sign up for a week in Bellagio with wonderful events, artistic classes, excursions around Lake Como and memories for a lifetime!  

There's only 5 spots left ladies... Make sure you sign up soon!  Just go to the Registration Page over on the right and you can sign up for the Payment plan to get started on your journey with us to Italy!!

Buon Natale!!






Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Is Italy a bit too far for you to come to one of my Creative Retreats??

Do you enjoy getting together with other "ARTSY" people who enjoy CREATING and SHOPPING and RELAXING???

Well then YOU are in for surprise...


Today I can REVEAL my Creative Retreat in Arizona!!



YES, it's going to be an AMAZING weekend in the Scottsdale area and I want YOU to join us!!

So mark your calendar for March 21st - 24th, 2013!

Here's some of the details of this CREATIVE WEEKEND:

Thursday, March 21st - Check-in late afternoon
                                      Meet -n- Greet Reception with Food and Surprises

Friday, March 22nd    - Shopping Road Trip in Luxury Motor Coach
                                      1st stop on road trip ~ SWEET SALVAGE! 
                                      2nd stop is at MELROSE VINTAGE!
                                      Special lunch included 
                                      Trip to Beth Quinn's Art Studio for a class

Saturday, March 23rd - Morning class at Event Hotel
                                      Lunch at hotel included
                                      Afternoon Class at Event Hotel
                                      Crop Night with lots of FUN surprises

Sunday, March 24th   - Check-out and fair wells 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               
The Hotel Location will be the lovely Marriott Scottsdale at McDowell Mountains:

                  

This is a BEAUTIFUL RESORT with a very relaxing atmosphere and I can't WAIT for everyone to see it!  You are welcome to stay at this hotel during your entire stay or come daily from your home if you live locally, or stay at the hotel of you choice.  BUT, this hotel is giving us an AWESOME GROUP RATE if we get at a group together of a minimum of 10 rooms per night.  This hotel is normally close to $400/night and they are giving us a rate of $189 per night for double occupancy if we do get to that 10 rooms minimum.  So I will have more details about that coming soon as we get the sign ups going and then you can call or go online and reserve your room after I have the GROUP CODE for that rate.

Some of the Special Events during this weekend:

~ THURSDAY NIGHT RECEPTION WITH MAKE-N-TAKE AND APPETIZERS

~ SHOPPING TRIP TO SOME AMAZING STORES IN PHOENIX, INCLUDING THE ONCE-A-MONTH SWEET SALVAGE SHOPPING EVENT!

~ AN AMAZING CLASS AT BETH QUINNS ART STUDIO

~ A WONDERFUL MEAL AT CHELSEA'S KITCHEN

~ 3 CLASSES IN AND AROUND THE LOCAL ARIZONA AREA WITH A SURPRISE TEACHER

~ LUNCH INCLUDED ON SATURDAY IN BETWEEN CLASSES

~ MAKE-N-TAKES, CROP NIGHT AND GIVEAWAYS!!

~ TIME TO RELAX BY THE POOL OR SHOP IN THE LOCAL AREA

All for the AMAZING PRICE OF $352.50 for all the events, tours and meals!!


So if you want to join us for the INCREDIBLE WEEKEND in beautiful Arizona, you can SIGN UP NOW!!  This event is a VERY EXCLUSIVE EVENT of ONLY 24 people because of the special events and classes at small art studios and the shopping tour.  So sign up SOON if you want to be a part of this special event! 

You can sign up BELOW for the FULL PAYMENT of $352.50 or 3 payments of $120.00



$352.50 -  FULL PAYMENT

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


$120.00  - 1ST PAYMENT OF 3 PAYMENTS IN TOTAL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please feel free to email me with any questions!  You can also sign by clicking up at the top under "Arizona Creative Retreat"and going to that page with the sign ups and FAQ's.