iCloud Deleted All My Notes Sync Problem SOLVED

I had a bunch of notes, and didn't want to lose them, so I set up an iCloud account and synced it to my iPod because that's what the apple guy told me to do, then I checked my notes and they were ALL GONE!!!

This is the third time I lost all of my valuable notes, and I was freaking sick of it. There are so many problems with these apple devices, and this is the worst! I called the apple lady and she told me that you have to pay $20 per phone call for help if you need help with your iPod unless it's within the 90 days after you bought it, which is also ridiculous, but lucky for me, I bought my new one like 8 days ago so I was good.

Anyways, here's the solution: If you have an iPod 5, then notes sync to your email account on your iPod (if you don't have this set up already, you need to do this so you don't lose notes, especially if they're as important as mine are!). To recover them, just go into the email (like a Yahoo! email because I know they support this, I don't think AOL does) on your computer, go to mail, then there should be a notes section where all of your notes will be synced to. Email them to yourself, then open them on your email in your iPod, copy the email, then paste it into a note, and then you'll have it back!

I'm going to continue syncing my notes to my email account because iCloud seems already faulty to me, and I don't trust it. Also, it's like not even a real thing! They never had me make a password for it or gave me a website, or any way to log into it. I don't even know what it is!! It might not even be a real account so instead of relying on it, I'm just going to continue syncing my notes to a real email address, I like Yahoo! and that way if something bad happens again, which I know it will, I'll keep all my notes, and be able to access them anywhere there's a computer and internet.

Adobe Premiere Pro Basic Tutorials

I ended up hating Sony Vegas CS6 after downloading it, so I downloaded Adobe Premiere Pro because it's supposed to be a step up, and I absolutely love it! It's so much better, and I am already pretty good at using it after just one weekend. I made two whole videos last weekend, both for Easter, and I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit them.

They turned out very well, and I'm SO GLAD that I don't have to use Windows Movie Maker anymore. I've been making videos for like three years now, and it's time to get away from that crappy editor haha. When I just got the editor, I was a little bit familiar with the layout because it has a timeline and a preview window and a video window like Final Cut Pro, which I learned how to use at school this year but can't download because I don't have a mac, but they looked pretty similar in setup with just a few differences.

Before editing anything, I searched up some basic tutorials on how to use it, and after watching two of them, I went ahead and got started on editing, and that was all I needed. I'm going to embed the videos I found helpful here, and whenever I come across another helpful video, I'll add it to this post.

How to Get it for Free

Basic Editing Skills

How to add Titles/Words

How to Make an Animated Title Sheen

How to add Green Screen Effects (Easier than it sounds!)

First Experiences with Sony Vegas Pro 12

As you might know, I make YouTube Videos for my YouTube channel. If not, now you know. I took a 3 month hiatus from producing videos because I needed to get away for a while. Making videos for YouTube used to be my favorite thing ever, but recently I stopped enjoying it as much and decided I didn't want to continue. I'm sure this had a lot to do with my Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, which is the same thing as seasonal depression. In the winter I basically hate everything and that includes things that I normally like, like making videos.

This school year, I took a class at my school called TV Productions where we learn how to use fancy cameras and the oh-so-fancy Final Cut Pro editing software. Lately, after making a video on how to make rainbow cupcakes, I just got so into it, and decided to resume my channel. I also had to film a video for a website that sent me a product to review, so that kind of kick-started my video making again.

Anyways, I normally use Windows Movie Maker for my videos, but after experiencing the wonders of Final Cut Pro, I decided I needed to step it up a bit, so I downloaded Sony Vegas Pro. It looks pretty similar to Final Cut Pro, but it works so much differently. I still have a hard time figuring it out, and have spent a couple hours fooling around with it and watching tutorials for it, but I still can't quite get it down. For now, I think I'll continue editing with Windows Movie Maker, but try to learn Sony Vegas Pro on the side.

Here's a video that shows you how to get it for free:



Here's another video showing how to use it:

Bucket List Ideas and my Personal Bucket List

Hey guys! This blog post is dedicated to bucket lists. For those of you who don't know what a bucket list is, it's a list of things that a person wants to do in their lifetime, before they "kick the bucket", or in other words, before they die. This is a list of things that you've always wanted to do, but haven't.

I believe everyone should have their own bucket list of every little thing they want to do. There are so many things in the world that I would like to do, and this is not only a good way to keep track of them, but by having a bucket list, it is inspirational and great motivation to actually get some of these things done.

You might want to keep a list on your phone (or iPod touch in my case) so you will always have it with you and you can easily add things to it. However, I feel that it's very rewarding having a hard copy because when you cross things off of your bucket list, you can do it literally and get that great feeling of accomplishment.

Without further ado, I'm going to first have a list of general things that a lot of people like to put on their bucket lists, which will give you ideas and you will probably end up adding one or more of these to your bucket list. Then, I'm going to have my own personal ever-growing bucket list which I will update and cross things off of as I go along in my life. Here we go!

Bucket List Ideas:

-go sky-diving
-pack a suitcase and book a ticket to fly somewhere, TODAY (points for being spontaneous)
-spend a whole day watching movies and eating yummy food
-tell someone the story of your life
-stay up all night with someone just talking
-cut your hair
-call all of your friends and have an impromptu house party
-learn to ballroom dance
-splurge on something luxurious (spa treatment? super expensive foundation? pricey nail polish you want?)
-climb a tree
-ask someone you just met out on a date
-ask someone you don't know out for coffee
-ask someone you like out for a date
-make a fool of yourself
-make a video and post it on youtube
-sit on a bus with no destination and go somewhere
-start a club at school/ an orginization/ a charity
-write your will
-get a tatoo
-get a piercing
-sleep under the stars
-dye your hair and maybe go for an unnatural color
-spend your day reading an entire novel (pick a good one!)
-quit smoking or drinking or any other bad habbit
-go on a long bike ride around town or a very long walk
-spend three months (longer if you're overweight/obese) dedicated to getting completely in shape
-start a small business
-lose (insert number here) pounds in (insert number here) months
-call into a radio station and request a song (take advantage of your on-air time and maybe say something funny)
-drive a convertable with the top down, wind blowing through your hair, blaring music. (or another car with the windows open and music loud)
-get a makeover
-give someone who desperately needs it, a makeover
-slide down a grass hill on a cardboard box
-completely revamp your whole wardrobe
-clean out your closet and donate all the clothing you never wear
-take out a whole bunch of money from your bank account ($3,000), and spend it all on clothing and shoes
-get married
-try out a new hair style
-play in fountains until you get caught
-ask for a raise from your boss
-wear pajamas in public (those really cool asian one-piece animal pj's would be cool)
-swim in an ocean or lake
-jump into a cold body of water (pool, lake, river, etc.)
-wear a crazy hat
-run a marathon
-spend a couple hours talking to a stranger
-crash a wedding (pretend you were invited)
-play spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven (if you missed out on this as a kid lol)
-audition for something
-go night swimming in a pool, ocean, etc.
-enter a contest
-make someone's wish come true
-learn something new
-go scuba diving
-sign up for a class for something (driving school, yoga class, java training, etc.)
-have an old-movie marathon (extreme version: find 15 movies that were popular from each decade and watch them in the order of the year they came out/are set in. this will take a few weeks, but it will not only be fun, but also help you understand the culture of the time period)
-rearrange the furniture in your house or room
-do weird things like these in an elevator for an hour, or any other weird things you can think of
-spend a whole day at an amusement park, festival, or fair
-jump into a pool with all of your clothing on
-delete your facebook or twitter and become more productive
-watch the sunrise with someone you love
-start a band
-go streaking
-become a fangirl for a band (memorize all their songs, band member names, band history, follow them online and blogs about them, buy a ton of band merch)
-get dressed up and wear sunglasses, and pretend to be famous (have a crew of people who look professional with big cameras and camcorders follow you around, and some friends pretending to be fans, asking for your autograph so everyone will think you're famous. Do this in a big city and see how many people you can trick!) (Here's a hilarious example)
-start a youtube channel where you make tutorials on a certain topic, do skits, talk about something, vlog about your life, or do random things
-spend a day in a library or barnes and noble just reading
-organize and/or be in a flash mob
-apply to colleges
-make a huge collage out of things like your old magazines, pictures, etc. put this on your wall
-write "love notes" to strangers and put them in places like books at a libraby, under tables in a coffee shop, under someone's windshield wipers, etc. have your email address on it so you can get replies
-finger paint a picture
-write a book (or ebook)
-start a blog
-buy that piece of expensive technology you've always wanted
-stay up for 24 hours straight, or if you're really daring, 48 hours. (it's funner with friends, and when you plan a lot of fun/creative things to do for the whole time)
-have a tea party, and like Alice in Wonderland, invite the strangest people you know!
-have a very fancy dinner party and use your best china and dishes, and have everyone dress up very fancy
-write letters to everyone you know and tell them what you think about them
-write a love letter to a significant other and put it in the mail. If you don't have a significant other, send one to a best friend!
-invent something
-go camping
-have your first kiss
-

My Personal Bucket List:

(the things that are crossed off are the things that I have accomplished so far)

-wear a snuggie to a sporting event or somewhere else in public
-paint my face for a sporting event
-buy lunch for, and eat with a hobo
-get in a cab and say "follow that car!" (maybe have my friend driving the car i tell them to follow)
-walk around town with a boombox on my shoulder, blaring music
-have my first kiss
-kiss someone in the rain
-watch a sunrise with a cute guy
-see a premier of a movie at 12am
-take dance lessons (ballroon?)
-learn how to twerk
-go to a concert
-go crowd surfing
-become ambidextrous
-become flexible enough to do a split
-look hot in a bikini
-get a tatoo
-get more ear piercings, maybe a lip piercing (spider bites), and belly button
-get two dermal piercings on my lower back (in college?) maybe
-go on a road trip with friends
-do something really spontaneous
-do a public prank
-go coning at McDonald's
-face one of my fears
-stay in a cabin on a non-school related trip
-spontaneously go to someone's house after 12am or vice versa
-sneak out late at night to meet a friend
-trade iPods with someone for a day or week to see eachother's music preferences
-go to an art museum with a friend and pretend to be blind (wear sunglasses), and have the friend take you around to the different exhibits and describe the art to you (a prank my dad came up with and did with his friend)
-drive to a mountain top and hang out there with a friend and talk and have fun
-hop the fence to someone's pool and take a swim
-stay up for 24 hours (eventually i want to try 48) with friends doing fun things
-have a sleepover with boys and girls
-play spin the bottle
-skip class to hang out with someone
-kiss someone under the bleachers like in the 3oh!3 song "My First Kiss" (cuz i like the song lol)
-have an upside down kiss (stupid, i know)
-have fun with someone in the rain and do a whole bunch of fun things and get completely soaked
-go ice skating with a guy I like and hold hands while skating
-cuddle at a cold football game with a guy
-read a book while cuddling
-go on a roller coaster that scares me
-become less shy, and more social
-start a business
-write a book or ebook
-learn calligraphy/ beautiful cursive
-create my own font
-travel to a different country and take a bunch of pictures, eat all the food, vlog and blog about it, and just consume the culture there
-make a short film, about half an hour long
-enter a film festival / contest for videos
-win a video contest
-go to a film festival
-go to coachella and wear a really cool outfit (don't forget to blog and vlog about it!)
-sell a piece of art that I created
-learn to cook something really delicious
-complete a 365 day photo challenge (take a picture of myself every single day for a whole 365 days straight)
-win a contest based on merit
-kiss under the mistletoe
-cook/bake with a cute guy
-be a little spoon
-use cans and string to communicate between houses
-do that Taylor Swift thing where you write on paper (or a whiteboard) to communicate with someone in the house across from yours, or some variation of that
-use walkie-talkies to communicate with friends, maybe on a mission!
-sneek out really late at night/ go out really late at night spontaneously to have a picnic with a friend
-go on a scavenger hunt (for my school)
-go to a wine-tasting event and pretend to be classy
-cook a meal with friends
-go skinny dipping
-go to a concert for a band that I like
-stay at a beach house/ cottage near the beach (maybe Ocean City) with friends and enjoy the beach life together
-go paintballing
-pass my driver's test and get a license
-fall in love
-have a snowball fight with friends
-be on television (Kaitlyn Today's first episode on WinTV)
-send a message in a bottle
-get a stranger's number after one encounter with them
-get a boy's number at the beach (don't have to call, just want the number)
-have a girls night out
-go to a poetry reading (at a coffee shop?)
-read at a poetry reading
-get married (maybe)
-do a free hugs sign with friends and give over 100 hugs (did this in 8th grade at the end-of-the-year outing, but i wanna do it again)
-have a very fancy tea party with fancy dishes, china, table cloths, food, clothing, music
-have a tea party, and like Alice in Wonderland, invite all of the weirdest people I know, and dress very strangely
-complete a full cleanse for a week long
-flash someone (lol)
-finger-paint something
-have a photo shoot with friends
-go camping with a friend/friend
-go on a nature walk/ hike/ trip outing and take a lot of pictures
-be in a fashion photo shoot in a beautiful environment like a forest (do this for my blog)
-spend a whole week off of the internet
-crash a party
-crash a wedding
-throw a party when my parents are out of town
-get a mohawk (a deathhawk would be cool)
-have a study party/ nerd party
-pretend to be a photographer for an event I wasn't even invited to, dressed all professional with a huge camera so it looks like I belong there, and another friend with me doing the same, and take lots of pictures of strangers and post them online
-with friends, go around asking people if they would like to take a short survey and ask them silly things like will you be my best friend, but with a straight face, and record and post on YouTube.
-get tons of glow in the dark stars (and/or glow in the dark paint), and make constellations on my ceiling
-buy water guns and have a water gun battle/ have a water ballon fight with friends
-go to Toys R Us, and buy one of the kids there a toy
-paint the rock near our school (during an xc pasta party)
-spend a full day outside
-sneak into a rated R movie (Did this with Toni, saw Hangover 2 after watching another movie)
-movie hop
-go to a drive-in movie theater
-do an anamorphic painting/drawing or piece of artwork that's like the painting with Henry the 3rd with the skull on the ground
-have dyed my hair every color of the rainbow (so far I have done red, yellow, blue, purple, pink)
-make a vlog of you doing a bunch of things on my bucket list, and when you're completely done, take short clips from each of them and put together a video showing short clips of everything you accomplished off of your bucket list
-get drunk (in a safe environment)
-smoke
-go to college

The Giant Strawberry

I found this GIANT STRAWBERRY when I took out the case of strawberries in our fridge. This is the biggest strawberry I've ever seen in my life! No lie! (Yes, that is my hand. It's the same size as the fruit!)

It reminded me of when we learned about GMO's, or Genetically Modified Organisms, in biology last year. GMO's include food that has been modified to grow bigger and faster, so it got me wondering if my strawberry was genetically modified. hmmm

Either way it was really delicious :P

9 Tips on How to Easily Lose Weight

For a while, I've been constantly gaining weight, and really want to do something about it. I have such low motivation, which is the main issue for me, but lately I've been looking in the mirror and feeling almost disgusted, so it's about time I start working on my weight loss.

I weigh about 125 pounds, when I weighed about 100 two and a half years ago. Most of the weight I gained is extremely apparent in my butt, a lot in my thighs, and a bit in the stomach area. I've been looking up stuff about weight loss a bit online lately, and I found that these are a few things I can change in my life in order to get my goal of fitness. I want to lose weight but i also want to be healthy.

9 Easy Tips On How To Lose Weight With Simple Lifestyle Changes

1. Drink lots of water. Not only will this give a person good skin, which is one of the reasons why I've always tried to drink as much water as possible, but it also kinda fills you up a little bit, so you will need to take in less food than you normally would to feel full.

According to an article written by Readers' Digest, "The average American consumes an extra 245 calories a day from soft drinks. That’s nearly 90,000 calories a year — or 25 pounds! And research shows that despite the calories, sugary drinks don’t trigger a sense of fullness the way that food does."

I feel like this is something I can improve on because water makes me feel good. I tend to be happier when i drink more water, and I feel refreshed. Over the past 3 years I developed a pretty good liking to water, so I don't think it would be that hard to change as long as I bring a water bottle around with me all the time.

2. Go on a brisk walk for 45 minutes each day. I know it's recommended by the Surgeon General to exercise for 30 minutes each day, I think about 5 days a week, so I've been trying to do that on the treadmill, speed walking at like 4 mph for about 35 minutes, which takes me a little over 2 miles, until the treadmill broke :/ After that I kinda lost my exercising momentum which it really took a lot of effort to start. It's winter, so I can't ride my bike, so it's been tough finding stuff to do. I might start going on walks around the neighborhood after reading this from Readers' Digest,

"The reason we’re suggesting 45 minutes instead of the typical 30 is that a Duke University study found that while 30 minutes of daily walking is enough to prevent weight gain in most relatively sedentary people, exercise beyond 30 minutes results in weight and fat loss. Burning an additional 300 calories a day with three miles of brisk walking (45 minutes should do it) could help you lose 30 pounds in a year without even changing how much you’re eating."

I can't run because I used to be a runner but with my crooked hips that I later found out about, I had a lot of knee, foot, and ankle problems, so I stopped running once and for all. I had to get orthodics afterwards and deal with a lot of pain, so now the most I will do is brisk walking. One tip I can give about doing boring repetitive exercise like running and walking is that if you bring along your iPod with some really good music on it, it will be less boring and more enjoyable.

3. Use blue tablecloths, plates, and the color in general around food. Since I am a teenager living with my parents, I don't really have any control over the color of the tablecloths and plates in our house, but this is a really interesting tip. Readers' Digest says that,

"Believe it or not, the color blue functions as an appetite suppressant. So serve up dinner on blue plates, dress in blue while you eat, and cover your table with a blue tablecloth. Conversely, avoid red, yellow, and orange in your dining areas. Studies find they encourage eating."

This is very interesting, and I will definitely remember this when designing my future house. Maybe I'll buy one blue plate for my own personal use in my (parent's) current house.

4. Use smaller plates and portions. Using smaller plates will make your plate seem less empty so you would be less likely to fill it up with more food. Here's what Readers' Digest has to say about this,

"Studies find that the less food put in front of you, the less food you’ll eat. Conversely, the more food in front of you, the more you’ll eat — regardless of how hungry you are."

"Serve your dinner restaurant style (food on the plates) rather than family style (food served in bowls and on platters on the table). When your plate is empty, you’re finished; there’s no reaching for seconds."

This should help control eating more food than you really need to by accident. So will this next tip.

5. Eat slowly! I've known this one for a while, but I never seem to follow this tip because I am always rushing to get back to something and whenever I do something slowly, I feel like I'm wasting time and that I should hurry everything to finish quickly so I can get back to my busy life. This feeling might be useful for hurrying when I'm doing something that wouldn't matter how quickly I do it, but when it comes to eating, I need to calm down, take a chill pill, and eat slower. The reason this is helpful is explained here,

"Put your fork or spoon down between every bite. Sip water frequently. Intersperse your eating with stories for your dining partner of the amusing things that happened during your day. Your brain lags your stomach by about 20 minutes when it comes to satiety (fullness) signals. If you eat slowly enough, your brain will catch up to tell you that you are no longer in need of food."

6. Use vegetables as "fillers" for meals. Using vegetables can help make you feel fuller and therefore allow you to consume fewer calories while still feeling full. One vegetable that I would recommend eating is celery because it actually has negative calories. This is because the amount of calories consumed is less than the amount of calories a person burns while digesting celery. That means you burn calories eating! I wish that would be so for pretzel m&m's but I guess I can't always get my way. If you don't believe me about the negative calories, google it!

"Eating water-rich foods such as zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers during meals reduces your overall calorie consumption. Other water-rich foods include soups and salads. You won’t get the same benefits by just drinking your water, though. Because the body processes hunger and thirst through different mechanisms, it simply doesn't register a sense of fullness with water (or soda, tea, coffee, or juice)."

"You can eat twice as much pasta salad loaded with veggies like broccoli, carrots, and tomatoes for the same calories as a pasta salad sporting just mayonnaise. Same goes for stir-fries. And add vegetables to make a fluffier, more satisfying omelet without having to up the number of eggs."

7. Stop eating because you're bored! I am a major culprit of this crime. I don't eat out of technical boredom, but a lot of the time I'll be very busy and have a huge to-do list, which overwhelms me, so instead I will just watch a movie or tv show and try not to think about doing my work. I like to eat while doing this, even when I'm not hungry. Another terrible thing I do is procrastinate on homework and sometimes I subconsciously look for anything to do besides the actual homework. I tell myself "I won't be able to focus on work if I'm hungry! I must get something to eat!" and "If I don't eat I could get hungry while doing homework!" and "wow I don't feel like doing this. I wonder what's in the kitchen."

If I stop doing this, not only would it be better for my health, but it would also help me get my work done and procrastinate less.

8. Eat more in the morning and less at night. The reason behind this is the same reason you always hear  that you're not supposed to eat right before bed --the earlier you eat, the more time you have to burn off the calories during the day. You don't want to eat at night and then go to bed right after without working off any of the calories you just ingested because it would all turn into fat. Readers' Digest says,

"Get most of your calories before noon. Studies find that the more you eat in the morning, the less you’ll eat in the evening. And you have more opportunities to burn off those early-day calories than you do to burn off dinner calories.

Close out the kitchen after dinner. Wash all the dishes, wipe down the counters, turn out the light, and, if necessary, tape closed the cabinets and refrigerator. Late-evening eating significantly increases the overall number of calories you eat, a University of Texas study found. Stopping late-night snacking can save 300 or more calories a day, or 31 pounds a year."

9. Brush your teeth after each meal. Readers' Digest says, "Brush your teeth after every meal, especially after dinner. That clean, minty freshness will serve as a cue to your body and brain that mealtime is over."

This sounds like it could work, and even if it doesn't, at least you will still have spectacular dental hygiene!

That's all I have for you today! If you want to read the article I referenced in this blog post, click here. If you have any tips of your own, leave them in the comments down below.

Safe Haven Movie Review and Experience

Today I went to see "Safe Haven" in the movie theatres with one of my good friends, Amy (the asian one haha) and my sister Candice and her newish boyfriend, Alex. We're on break from school and have both been dying to see the movie. I wanted to go on Valentine's Day with the girls but it was a school night and the parents weren't down so we had to go today, the 19th of February.

Anyways, the movie was great. You could tell it was by Nicholas Sparks because of the way it was directed. It reminded me a bit of the notebook because of the rain scene, but it was different than all of his other movies. I'm not going to do a plot overview because I don't want to spoil it for you but it's basically about a girl who is running for someone and falls in love with a man whose wife died to cancer.

I would highly recommend watching this movie. Even though it's a chick flick, there is a bit of danger in it and I think guys would like it too. Amy, Candice, even Alex, and I all liked it. Bring a cute boy to see the movie, it will make it funner :P

That's it for now. But speaking of boys, click here to see how my Valentine's Day went!