Antonia Emery: The Smiley Future Entrepreneur

Another week, another meal. This time with secret future entrepreneur Antonia Emery. Antonia works the front desk at the City of Champaign Building and is another smiley happy person. Always happy to see her.

Today was a rough one for me getting started. Earlier this week I slipped on the icy stairs of my apartment building and hurt my back. I've been down and out for the last couple of days, but today I thought I was well enough to make it into work. Things started off well, but the pain came back and I was thinking about going home, but as I was contemplating calling it a day, I walked past Antonia. She could see I was in pain and asked about me.

It is always good to be around people who care about you. Just being around positive energy can sometime take the worst of the pain away. I talked to her about going out to lunch and she said she was up for it, if I thought I could make it through. Figured I would give lunch a go and see how I felt afterwards. So the plans were set.

I've told Antonia before that I would buy her lunch if she ever wanted to go out, but she thought I was just joking and never took me up on the offer. With this new project, I think she saw that it wasn't a joke and I was serious. I don't think she wanted to be the first person, but once she saw others have a good time, she gave it a try.

We were originally planning on going to Seven Saints, but as we were getting ready to leave the big bosses at work were heading out and we heard they were going that way. Figured we might try a different place instead. Antonia chose Big Grove Tavern, just up the street from work. Another place I have never been to, so I was happy to see it. Loved the look of the place when we got inside. We were greeted by very nice staff and seated at a table. Nice place.

Antonia is working on eating healthy and working out, so she wanted to get a salad and some salmon. I did not want to eat healthy and work out so I got my go to bacon cheeseburger and fries. While we waited for our meal, we munched on some nice, seasoned popcorn and had a pleasant conversation.

I knew that family was important to Antonia, so was happy to hear her talk about how close she was with her family and how her life revolved around her son. I am sure she is a great mother to him. We also talked about where she is at in life. She is at that age where she isn't a kid anymore, but doesn't have her future all figured out yet. (I am very much older and suffer from the same problem). It is nice to be in that exploring yourself stage of life.

What I liked, was she has a lot of ideas and plans. So many options ahead of her. She really loves her job and I can see her staying there for a long time, but she also expressed interest in going back to school and getting a degree in Public Administration. I wondered if she might want to be a city leader at some point, but that is a heck of a commitment. I see the time and dedication that my bosses put in and I am not sure I would want to do that much.

Antonia's eyes lit up when we did talk about a business idea that she had. She really wants to start something and make it her own. I promised I wouldn't share her business idea, so we will just keep that secret, but I have a feeling it would be a great one that would go over well in the area. And she would be great at it.

On our way out we ran into a couple of other fellow workmates who were exploring downtown for lunch. They were nice enough to take the photo of us out front. And it was good to see two more people who can possibly be future guest of It's My Treat. Ha.

So, yes, Antonia, I was not joking. It was great to have lunch with you, and I am sure we will have to do it again before the year is over. Restaurant Week starts tomorrow, so I might try to get out and enjoy some of the specials going on at the local places. I am very excited to try some new adventures. #curestaurantweek