S P R I N G (I N G) into S U M M E R

 

Wearing: h&m top, kookai shorts, thepeachbox bracelets, windsormith shoes, stella mccartney sunglasses

Whilst all my friends are freezing their tushies off in good 'ol Melbourne, I'm chasing the tail end of spring here in Shanghai. And by Spring, I mean 34 degrees, hot, balmy, sticky Spring. The humidity levels are going through the roof, so naturally I opted for some breathable chiffon/silk pieces to gently cover myself, whilst letting my body breathe.

I bought this white bandeau top from a recent H&M haul. Now usually, I HATE bandeau, probably cos I'm a bit of a washboard and they always just seem to slide off, but this one has elastic and fit on nice and snug. Downside is that there is no padding on the bust area, so you'll have to tough out with one of those strapless bra's us ladies all love so much....

These Kookai shorts were a new addition to my Summer 2014 wardrobe, snagging them at the summer clearance sales, it was love at first sight. I'm a sucker for prints and anything bright and florally so this was a must have. I have actually worn these silky shorts out on numerous occasions, and once again, am bringing them out for Summer 2014 take two in Shanghai. 

Peeping through the foliage is probably my most important purchase this year, my white Windsorsmith clog sandals. I literally wore these shoes every day of the summer, and coming from a self confessed shoe fanatic who likes to change shoes with every outfit, that's saying something. They're super duper comfy and extremely lightweight and very durable, considering how much I bully my shoes. Windsorsmith always has great range of summer sandals and clogs, and I've got my fingers crossed that these babies will be brought out again next year !

Due to the excessive heat, I've gone with some simple accessories from a recently discovered (and now one of my favourite) Australian jewellery labels, THEPEACHBOX. Here, I'm wearing their 'Suspended Crystal Bezel Bracelet' (in rose gold) and their 'Floating Crystal Bangle' (in rose gold).

(I have a post coming up especially for this brand so keep your eyes peeled)

Thanks for reading, my pretties !
Hope this warmed up your chilly Autumn's day, or you can empathise with me on this hot Spring afternoon if you're also on the Southern hemisphere :)

Jenny ♥

instagram | youtube | personal instagram

Melissa Akarsu

@melissaakarsu_ on instagram

                                                Hi everyone! I'm the other half of this blog, Melissa Akarsu ☺.

Who?

 Like Jenny, I am also from Melbourne, Australia. This may come as a shock to you but no, I am not Japanese. My mum is originally from Guangzhou in China and my dad is from.... wait for it... TURKEY!  I am able to speak English, Mandarin and Cantonese but unfortunately my Turkish vocabulary only goes as far as monkey (maymun). I am currently a second year science student at the University of Melbourne and a part time dental assistant. I'm not particularly interested in dentistry; I’m just doing it for the moolah HAHA.

What?

As you can see from the photos above I used to be quite chubby. I was weighing 59.9kgs at 158cms (shorter than Jenny, sigh) and most of the weight was fat. I ate an enormous amount of junk food and barely exercised. It got even worse when Uni started. Since I was new to the Uni life, I would eat out every night then come home and eat dinner again. My exercise was running to the bus stop 30 meters away from my house every morning because I would literally sleep until the bus was 15 minutes away. I even had the name pet sloth because I was so lazy (LOL my life). I was never really happy with my body but I was too lazy to do anything about it. Then last year in August I finally had enough and impulsively joined a local gym. I’ve made many impulsive decisions in my life which I have regretted, but this was honestly by far the best decision I had ever made. I started changing my life around after that. My gym literally became my second home as I was there 4-5 times a week, 2 hours each session.  I also had a strict diet with the occasional treats (I shall make a post about counting your macros in the near future ;)). Although I had wanted to stop gymming so many times, I began seeing results and it gave me more motivation to continue. Of course the $80 gym fee out of my bank every month motivated me a lot too HAHA. I am currently weighing 49.8kgs which is a weight loss of over 10kgs, but weight does not determine how fit or healthy you are. My goal is to reduce my fat percentage as much as possible (not to the point where I have no boobs at all tho) and gain muscle to create a toned look. I wouldn’t mind being 55kgs as long as I wasn’t storing fat on me! I am not where I want to be at the moment but each day I’m taking one step closer. I will be posting work outs, motivation, food recipes and fitness tips on this page to share with you how I did/am doing it. Also feel free to contact me anytime! I had much support and guidance from so many people so I would be glad to help you and join you on your journey to a healthier and happier life!
Hope I didn’t bore you with my life story HAHA.
Come and get ‘the 241’
Melissa xx
Instagram

Jenny Zhou

A big 你好 from Shanghai, China ! ☺

photos taken from my personal instagram @jennyjzhou (2014)

One half of this blog, I'm Jenny Zhou, (some people call me Little Jenny cos I'm short and awesome 1.62m), 19 y.o. first year university student. 
You may also know me as 'Olive' from Olive & Petal on Youtube, where I make covers, shopping hauls, blab about my life and whatnot. 

- A quick little backstory -

 Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia (holla !), as a first generation Australian to my two outstanding parents, hailing from Shanghai, China. I am of Chinese heritage, 1/8 Russian and possibly 1/16 German if you believe it or not, because I look 100% Asian. English is my primary and first language, and Shanghainese is my at home lingo, whereas Mandarin Chinese, I had to learn at Chinese school on Saturdays...And I speak a wee little bit of French, or what's leftover in my brain from VCE days...

After completing my VCE in 2012, I trotted along and started uni at Monash University in Melbourne (best uni ever), studying Bachelor of Arts (Languages) / Bachelor of Laws. Whilst interesting, this course wasn't where my true passions lay. Early 2013, I auditioned for the Shanghai Theatre Academy, in China, to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming an actress. Annnnd spoiler alert ! I made it, so here I am on the other side of the world blogging !

- What I will bring to the blog -

As many of my close friends know, I have always prided myself on how I dress, and fashion is a part of my lifestyle. I practically live by the Karl Largerfeld quote:

“Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.”

And so, I'm always that over-dressed girl, who puts way too much effort into planning her outfits, even if it's just a half day at uni. My style reflects my personality and how I'm feeling on the day. I love colour, prints, anything that makes me stand out really. In turn, I don't really follow trends or anything, I see what I like, I buy it, I wear it. So if  you ever see me wearing all black, in hoodies and trackies, you'll know my life has crumbled and shrivelled haha.

Something else that takes up a large slice of my brain cake, is food, healthy food. If you knew me back in the days, I was literally junk food queen. Having extremely busy parents, breakfast was pizza, lunch was spring rolls or whatever oily thing I scavenged at the canteen and then insert the very occasional Macca's, KFC, Red Rooster, Ice-cream, chipschipschips.

HOWEVER, I am a changed woman now. Changing to more healthy eating options was probably one of the most difficult things ever LOL, but I'm still alive now, and my body is definitely thanking me for it. So on this blog, I'd also like to share with you some more healthy meal and snack options (that aren't totally boring and just make you go bleurgh, hand me a donut) and also the occasional treats, because we're all just human and we have cravings and I have a ma-gassive sweet tooth :3

So there you go, a little peep into my life !
(Thanks for reading this essay, I'm a chatterbox as you can probably now tell...)

I hope you'll come along on my journey of getting "the 241".

Lots of love,

Jenny ♥
instagram | youtube

Hello world, this is me !

hello  你好  bonjour  aloha  yo waddup  こんにちは  ‘sup 

Firstly, thank you sooooo much for sparing some time and coming to check out our new project and baby. a quick little introduction, we’re Melissa Akarsu & Jenny Zhou, both university students, hailing from Melbourne, Australia (aussie aussie aussie !) and share some common interests and passions. and so, have created this blog.

Fitness, food and fashion; the fantastic three we both love so much. Melissa will be posting more on the fitness, health and food side, whereas fashion and food is more Jenny's forte. However, we feel that you can’t have one without the other…if you decorate yourself beautifully on the outside, but feel rather the opposite on the inside, it will show through. If you treat your body as a temple, your home, your inner beauty will shine through to the outside ! 

It sounds cliché and super corny, but in order to look and feel beautiful we like to combine the two, hence, two for one / 241, as essentially they are one body. 

We already have a whole stack of posts lined up for you, so please be patient and bear with us, 'cos we're so excited for what's about to come and would love to share it with you.

So hopefully you’d like to follow our own personal journeys as we get “the 241”, hehe ♥

Thought we'd start off the first post with a photo from the beginning of our friendship HAHA
est. 2010
peace out, yo !