Happy Friday, folks! The cold weather finally decided to make an appearance, and ironically, it’s coming in… hot. 😂 One minute we’re in light jackets, the next minute it’s “why does my face hurt from the wind?” season.

And as the temperatures drop, the workload definitely hasn’t. We’re weeks away from Thanksgiving, the holiday PTO countdown has officially begun, and every morning lately feels like I’m opening the floodgates to my own personal event-planning hell.

Every EA has lived the same nightmare, You’re planning an event, your inbox looks like a triage unit, three vendors have sent updated PDFs labeled “Final_Final_v3,” and your exec forwards you a quote you already rejected… two weeks ago. 🫠

At some point, you sit back and think:

“Why is event planning still held together by scattered email threads and pure willpower?”

This week, we’re talking about the antidote: centralization, the thing that turns planning from mess management into actual strategy. Because when everything lives in one place, you stop chasing information and start owning the process.

With love and lots of coffee, ☕

Chrissy

Let me tell you about a moment I had this week, the kind that makes you stop mid-scroll and question all your life choices.

I was juggling three events, each with its own vendors, quotes, “updated” PDFs, and contradictory email threads. You know the drill: one vendor replies in a brand-new thread (why), another sends a contract as a PNG (also why), and someone on the team drops a question in Slack that’s already been answered in email… but no one can find the email.

I had five windows open, Gmail, Slack, Drive, a contract in Preview, and a spreadsheet that was supposed to keep this all organized. And even with all of that, I still caught myself thinking:

“There has to be a world where all of this lives in one place.”

Not “organized enough.” Not “searchable if I remember the right keyword.” Actually centralized.

One home

One thread

One truth

That’s the moment I realized! Most platforms claim to “make planning easier,” but they don’t fix the real pain point… the scatter.

And that’s why Bondly’s approach hit me. Their platform is literally built around the idea that everything related to an event should stay attached to that event, quotes, proposals, messages, bookings, revisions, all of it. No more lost threads or mystery attachments, and definitely no more “wait, where did that vendor reply go?”

That same afternoon, I was knee-deep in options for an upcoming event, three venues, a handful of menus, different price structures, different vibes. And every time someone asked, “Which one do we like best?” I had to mentally jump between browser tabs like I was auditioning for Cirque du Soleil.

When I pulled everything into Bondly, it was the first time the entire event actually made sense all at once.

All the venue options were lined up next to each other, clean, visual, and instantly comparable. I wasn’t flipping between PDFs or scanning emails for the right attachment. The proposals lived directly inside the event, and the conversations about each option were tied to the exact place they belonged.

Seeing bookings connected to the event, instead of hidden in email attachments or someone’s Slack DM, was a small but life-changing detail. It removed that constant low-level anxiety of, “Wait, where’s the real version? Did someone update this without telling me?”

What stood out most was the clarity, the kind that lets you answer a question in seconds because everything you need is already in front of you.

The whole layout feels like your planning brain finally has a dashboard that speaks its language: context first, options grouped together, conversations where they belong, and decisions that don’t require digital archaeology.

It’s the closest I’ve seen to a platform that understands how EAs really plan, not in theory, but in practice.

Here’s a small moment that sold me on Bondly, I opened an event workspace and saw every venue option lined up neatly next to each other, the proposals attached right below, and the entire conversation thread sitting exactly where it belonged. No tabs, no guesswork!

It sounds simple, but that kind of visibility is rare. And for EAs, visibility is everything.

🎯 Book a 15-minute demo with the Bondly team to see how simple event planning can be (tell them Chrissy sent you).

Perfect for the moment you realize it’s freezing outside but somehow your calendar is what’s actually on fire. ❄

Follow our Spotify playlist for inspo! 🎧

Where EAs say what they really mean — respectfully, of course. 😉

We’re brewing something new.

Join us for Per My Last Coffee, a monthly 12 PM ET virtual chat for Executive Assistants who need a break from inbox diplomacy and back-to-back meetings.

It’s a space to connect, commiserate, and crowdsource real solutions to everyday EA challenges. We’ll talk boundaries, burnout, wins, workflows, and the occasional “did that really just happen?” moment.

🗓️ Wednesday, December 17 @ 12:00 PM ET
🌐 Free & virtual (Google Meet link after RSVP)
⏰ 45 minutes of connection, community, and clarity
💬 Cameras optional; coffee mandatory-ish (tea is fine, we guess)

☕️ Sip, share, and say what you can’t put in an email. 💅

Because when we find tools that actually make our jobs easier, we share them. Here are a few favorites we use and love, all with a little something extra for the Office of the EA community:

🗓️ Vimcal EA — The scheduling tool built for Executive Assistants. Clean interface, fast shortcuts, chef’s kiss.

🎧 Endel — Personalized soundscapes that help you focus, sleep, and recharge. Perfect background for inbox triage or deep work mode.

📦 Amazon Finds — The EA Survival Kit: from blue-light glasses to desktop organizers to the coffee that fuels these emails. (All Chrissy-approved, of course.)

💼 TealHQ — The ultimate career toolkit for EAs. Track jobs, update your resume, and organize your professional goals — all in one dashboard.

One Hope— 🍷 🍾 Gifts that pop, pour, and give back. From bubbly to bold reds—and everything in between—ONEHOPE has the perfect gift for every client, team, or celebration. Plus, every bottle gives back to a meaningful cause. 💕

Support Office of the EA by exploring any of the tools or links we share, it helps keep this newsletter (and my caffeine habit) going strong. 💪