Bella Aquila Ristorante

06/12/2024

Today is the 7th anniversary of my husband and me purchasing our restaurant, Bella Aquila, from his parents. Eventually, we had to close Bella due to post-pandemic difficulties, but along the way, I learned a lot about personal growth and leadership which led me to life coaching.

My husband and I managed Bella with his parents from the beginning, which smoothed the transition to our ownership. For me, the shift from “owner’s daughter-in-law” to “owner” was profound. I had to really step up and lead, and I discovered that all my self-defense and martial arts training was key. From my self-defense training, I used my conflict resolution skills and boundaries—including Time Boundaries to protect myself from entrepreneurial burnout. From my martial arts, I drew on the resilience I developed by transforming my relationship with failure. My senseis would push me past my limits, I would rise to the occasion and now I had new limits but in the process I failed a lot. Failure is no longer devastating to me, now it’s a step toward success.

I developed a leadership style based on supporting my employees, giving them everything they needed to succeed, and then getting out of their way so they could exceed my expectations. This helped with my Time Boundaries because the more independent they were, the more free time I had.

Everyone says, “Our employees are our family,” but we actually achieved it. To this day, 2 ½ years after closing the restaurant, my husband and I still get thank you’s from our former employees.

But because we were family, closing the restaurant was all the more difficult. It was like losing our family, our job, and our home all at once. It’s no wonder I suffered a neck injury afterward.

From that came my new career as a life coach. Many of our regular guests worked in the mental health field and encouraged me to become a life coach. This transition felt like a natural step, combining all my experiences and passions. Now I support others using my 7 Keys for Living an Enhanced Life: , , , , , , and .

Thank you to everyone who was part of our Bella Aquila journey. Your support and encouragement mean the world to us. If you want to follow my life coaching social media, I'll put the l i n k s in the c o m m e n t s.

03/08/2022

Happy International Women's Day!

I'm taking this opportunity to remind everyone that my other career is teaching women's self-defense soft skills with my friend Eric Holsinger who teaches the physical skills. We hope to resume teaching in-real-life classes again in a few months, we'll be teaching here in Eagle at Idaho Martial Arts. Until then we're sharing self-defense soft skills on our Facebook and Instagram pages, Street Shield Self Defense (on IG ).

I'm also sharing this photo because people are having difficulty recognizing me outside of the restaurant. It's a little bit comical when I say hi and they know they know from somewhere but they can't figure out where. So, this is how I look in my street clothes: hair down, little or no make-up, probably not wearing my glasses, usually wearing a hoodie (but not with boxing gloves in public, LOL!).

I miss you all. I enjoy seeing you around town. I hope now you'll see me too.

Amy.

Happy International Women's Day. This year's theme is , and the pose to show solidarity is with the arms crossed, and the official color of International Women's Day is purple. I shot this selfie last night as I was finishing up my workout.

Historically there's been a lot of bias against women martial artists but things have become a lot better in recent years. I've been very lucky in my martial art career to have trained with such amazingly good men. Or, maybe rather than "luck" it's more like I've done a good job choosing my teachers and coaches.

You don't have to be a martial artist in order to protect yourself, especially because so much self-defense comes from "soft skills" such as Situational Awareness and Boundaries, but training in the martial arts is so much fun! I highly recommend it.

For more information on International Women's Day 2022 follow this link:

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme

Posted by Amy.

02/02/2022

It is with exceptional sadness that I announce we are now out of our beautiful space on the river shore. If you need to contact us for any reason this our new contact info.

We miss you all and we're enjoying catching up with you as we see you around town. Sometimes I'm difficult to recognize out of context, in my street clothes, and with my hair down which has been comical as people know they know me but they're not sure from where.

Chad and I live here in Eagle and we're not going anywhere. Chad's parents, Bill and Ellen who are Bella's founders, also live here in Eagle. Please be sure to say hi when you see us.

With much love,

Chad and Amy Cooper.

01/04/2022

Here is your opportunity to purchase a piece of Bella Aquila!

Except for the cars, those aren't ours. Our items begin at the food catering trailer.

10th Dec - 10th Jan, 2022. EAGLE, IDAHO. USA : Total liquidation of Bella Aquila fine dining restaurant.High end restaurant furniture & patio furnitureBar equipmentKitchen EquipmentRefrigerators & FreezersFood prep equipmentChina, flatware & glasswareKitchen smallwares, pots, pans, shelving, etc.......

12/16/2021

Just a reminder we are having a Wine Sale, Saturday December 18th from 2-5 pm. Come early for the good stuff, stay late for the good sales. Reds, whites, rose's, sparkling, and beer.

12/10/2021

Please come to our Wine Sale, Saturday December 18th from 2-5 pm. Come early for the good stuff, stay late for the good sales. Reds, whites, rose's, sparkling, and beer.

11/20/2021

Thank you everyone, for your love and support. We are overwhelmed with gratitude.

Last night several people asked me (Amy) to post a link to my Women’s Self-Defense company. In 2019 I started Street Shield Self Defense with my friend Eric Holsinger. Due to the pandemic we have not been able to teach, but with the restaurant closing I’m dedicating myself to teaching self-defense and especially women’s self-defense.

Eric and I plan to resume teaching in person in the spring, but until then we have a lot we can teach via our Facebook and Instagram pages. Each month we are focusing on a theme, November is “Boundaries”, December will be “Self-Care”, January will be “New Beginnings”, and so on.

Please follow our page, Street Shield Self Defense. Our in-person classes will be here in Eagle at Idaho Martial Arts.

BTW, our logo was created by Bella Aquila's server/bartender Evan Cordova.

https://www.facebook.com/StreetShieldSelfDefense

11/17/2021

Dear valued guests,

It is with a heavy heart and much sadness that we announce Bella Aquila will be closing its doors permanently. Our last day of service will be Saturday, December 4, 2021. It has been a wonderful nearly 13 years, but the conditions of operating a restaurant during a pandemic have become unbearable, so it’s time for us to move on.

It’s been an honor and privilege to serve amazing food in a beautiful location to all of you. We have shared in your birthdays, holidays, weddings, anniversaries, baby showers, and also in your grief with memorial services and celebrations of life.

We are grateful for your continued support throughout the years, including and especially during the lockdown last year with to-go orders that helped keep us going. We are grateful for our wonderful work family who is with us until the end, and some who have even come back to help us in our time of need. These last few weeks have been very much like “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

We are too young to retire, so at this point it’s a matter of finding what will make us happy for the rest of our lives. We have decided that what we love the most about the hospitality industry is leaving people better than we found them. Before Covid I (Amy) started teaching women’s self-defense, and I would like to expand on that and work with victims of violence. Chad will probably also go into the helping professions.

Thank you to everyone for bringing us into your lives and being a part of our Bella family.

With much love,

Amy and Chad Cooper
Wednesday November 17, 2021

09/06/2021

Congratulations to our server/bartender Anabele and her groom Jason Leach, married yesterday evening Sunday September 5, 2021