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Surprise Wedding Reception

Amanda Douglas2017-01-20T11:19:49-06:00

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June 28th, 2026 ⁠ My best friend, my guardian, my June 28th, 2026 ⁠ My best friend, my guardian, my constant cuddle buddy, my ever-watching eye, my support through it all - Ollie - has passed. ⁠ ⁠ My sweet 16-year-old-baby-boy took a turn Sunday, while being visited by Katie, Sigrid, and Edith; three of his favourite humans. ⁠People who were his second family (Kyle, you too!) and home; having spent weekends staying with them or vacations out at the cabin.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ He passed in my arms. ⁠ ⁠ I felt him take his last breath, and held him close while his heart thudded its last few beats. ⁠ ⁠ Marshall (co-parent) made it in record time to find us in the grass; the tall prairie grass I grew, kinda just for him. The grass I watched Old Man Ollie slowly explore all spring.⁠ ⁠ He loved long grass, letting it sweep over his body; walking through it on the floodway, or at the dog park.⁠ ⁠ We sat with him as he lay in a halo of grass, clover and flowers we slowly and gently made around him. It felt so fitting and beautiful to honour him there for a while. ⁠ ⁠ He’s always been a stubborn old guy, even when he was a puppy, so it was no surprise that he went of his own accord. ⁠ ⁠ I had been telling him all week that we were taking care of him and we were watching out for him and that he could go whenever he wanted, but if he needed, someone was coming to help on Monday. ⁠ ⁠ He was ready. And he was fast about it.⁠ ⁠ It was a cloudy day to start, but the sun had come out and warmed him as he took a few steps around before he said it was time, showing me he needed to be held. I stepped inside, sat down on my big armchair, and held him close as he went.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ (Friends: Thank you for loving Ollie with me, and for all your kind words since he's passed. He'll be missed, but always loved and remembered. (+hugs to all of you that have been through this too).
ISSUE 10 — No One Talked About It⁠ ⁠ If no one tal ISSUE 10 — No One Talked About It⁠ ⁠ If no one talked about your event afterward, it probably didn’t have a moment.⁠ ⁠ People don’t share schedules.⁠ They share experiences.⁠ ⁠ One intentional moment is often enough to carry an event forward.⁠ ⁠ ISSUE 10: You can get the newsletter Issues via LinkedIn or by signing up for our email newsletter - link in bio!⁠ ⁠ ⬅️ Swipe for the reminder that matters most.⁠
Happy Father's Day to my one and only dad!⁠ ⁠ Love Happy Father's Day to my one and only dad!⁠ ⁠ Love you! ⁠ xo ⁠ ⁠ Photo by @dwaynelarson
Plot twist: Your Event Planner has a podcast🎙⁠ ⁠ Y Plot twist: Your Event Planner has a podcast🎙⁠ ⁠ Yep — me, Amanda. ⁠ ⁠ Somewhere between the timelines and the seating charts and the "trust me, the bar goes there," I've been building something on the side.⁠ ⁠ It's called Work, By Design. It's where I think out loud about the stuff underneath the events — how we design careers, businesses, and whole lives that actually fit, instead of just function. (Don't worry, wedding clients; I'm still very much in your wedding corner. This is just the other half of my brain getting some air.)⁠ ⁠ And the timing's kind of perfect, because today — Season 1 is officially done.⁠ ⁠ Twelve episodes. A full year (recorded and released in a few months) of thinking out loud — about redesigning a career that works but stopped fitting, about recovery and rebuilding at the same time, about what it costs to let something you love sit still for a while.⁠ ⁠ The finale is up now, and it's the most honest one yet. I cover:⁠ ⁠ → Where the title question actually sits (still open, still squidgy)⁠ → What the four-hour workday actually looks like in practice⁠ → The things still in the notebooks⁠ → What this season did for me that I didn't expect⁠ → Camp Rover, and what the architect version of its comeback looks like⁠ ⁠ And yes — there's a word about Ollie, my 16-year-old dog who is currently running every major life decision I make. He's worth it.⁠ ⁠ If this is your first time hearing any of this, the finale is actually a solid place to start. It's the honest inventory of everything the season covered. Then go back to episode one.⁠ ⁠ Link in bio. 🎧⁠ xo Amanda⁠ ⁠ (Photo from a Manitoba Wedding Network Halloween Event we put on a few years back - Yes, I still have that blazer, made it myself!)

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