Day 60: Sophie's Ruby Red sparkles

I've been bursting to wear these beautiful ruby red earrings Sophie Yates, my lovely PhD student, sent me from Melbourne a few weeks ago. Finally, today I had the chance wear them as I had a teleconference with Sophie and with my dear colleague Jan (Day 35) to review the latest chapters of Sophie's fascinating dissertation on the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence. She received an A+ for progress! Sophie is one of those dream students who is motivated, smart, organised and prolific. She'll come out of this process with an excellent thesis, important research and analytical skills and the foundation for a successful academic career, should she want it.  It's a pleasure to supervise such a committed young researcher, and it's a bonus to being doing it with Jan who is so knowledgeable about this area.

When Sophie sent these earrings she included this note, which I thought was just so great it's worth posting here:

Sophie in action, Dec 2016

Soph is a baldie by choice, and it looks fabulous on her. As she lives in Melbourne, we haven't had the chance for a joint baldness photo yet but I did take this snap of her giving a great presentation at the Women in Leadership Forum in Brisbane a couple of months ago. Soph has her own great earring collection too, and was wearing a gorgeous pair this day.














Day 60 (I'm getting through it!) was a good day. After my call with Sophie and Jan I had a treat, visiting to my lovely beautician Aoife to have my nails painted black again - it's the only fun and indulgent side of this process!

I came home for afternoon tea with Steph (Day 28) and Nat ( Day 12). I've been wanting to introduce these two super women for months and knew they would hit it off. Nat and I had a gluten free bake off - she won with the most divine 'Persian Love Cake' to mark Persian new year. My almond, orange & ricotta cake needs work - it has an odd texture and is a bit dry.

I can feel the start of something...with Steph & Nat

Persian Love cake by Nat

Orange, Almond and Ricotta cake by Lou

A quiet night with the jigsaw and Broadchurch in the comfy track suit Lindy gave me and I'm a happy girl!

P.S. I've changed the blog back to the old format after negative feedback from a few people. It might not look as nice, but it much easier to navigate - practicality wins over aesthetics this time.