vlog – Andrea M Jara

How to Become a Successful Youtube Vlogger

Hey! First off congrats and you are off to a great start if you are looking up how to be successful because it takes initiative and passion to really get where you want to be in life. No one is going to spoon feed success to you and it is up to you to do what you love.

Also want to mention do not listen to any hate or negative people because if you want to vlog then do it!!! GO AFTER YOUR DREAMS!!! Can not wait to see what content you create!!!

Also do not be shy to subscribe to my Youtube Channel: Andrea M Jara

Here I will give you my vlogger starter pack and a step by step on how to begin!

Step one: Think about the Content you are going to create. What is your niche? Really think of what you enjoy to do as it has to be fun for you! Do you love food? Travel? Disney? Success and money? Etc? Anything!!!

Step two: Come up with a creative name! I decided to brand myself with my own name as I will have the freedom to change what I do at any moment, unlike if my name was “Andreatravelseveryday” and then I would be stuck with only traveling as it would be hard to rebrand. So I would really think hard about the name and DO NOT RUSH IT! It will come and remember this is what your audience will know you as!

Step three: Create a Gmail account!!! You want to use the name you created in the email as this will become your brand in my opinion, but you can use any email if you would like to! But you need a Gmail account to open a Youtube account!

Step four: Create a youtube channel!!! Go to Youtube.com and connect your gmail account and boom you are done!!!

Step five: Change your profile pic and banner pic!!!

Step six: Plan out a week or two of content and ideas of video you would like to create. For example, say if you are going to the zoo or going out to eat during the week write it down so you know you need to film that when you are vlogging. It helps motivate you to film and keeps you organized.

Step Seven: Keep a schedule so your audience knows when to expect a video! This is something I personally have to work on!

OKAY SO NOW YOU ARE LIKE ANDREA I HAVE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND A NAME AND CONTENT IDEAS BUT NOW WHAT? WHAT DO I FILM WITH OR EDIT WITH???

My Vlogging Gear

ALL THE BOLD WORDS ARE LINKS TO EACH PRODUCT

First off you do not need a fancy camera to vlog but I will provide everything I use from my iphone to my drone!

When I first started to vlog I used my iPhone and edited on imovie… wow the easy days haha

The iPhone I started off with was an iPhone 6S, but you can honestly use any iPhone even the iPhone X has an amazing camera and Samsung phones as well!!!

After my iPhone, I upgraded to my Canon PowerShot G7 X which I love for easy travel video and vlogs!!! It is small and durable!!! There is a Second Version, the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II that is the same but has a better auto focus.

I also use a Wind Screen for my Canon, this is a must if you plan on vlogging outside because wind can ruin your whole audio and you DO NOT WANT THAT TO HAPPEN!!!

I also use a Panasonic LUMIX G7 and LOVE IT! You can shoot 4K and 1080p, and it is overall fun to shoot with, however, it is a little bigger to travel.

I use this mic, Rode VideoMic, on my Panasonic LUMIX G7 for as much quality audio as possible! I recommend this if you are really focusing on people talking or background noises, overall the better your audio is the better the video will be!

You can also get a wind shield mic protection for the Rode VideoMic.

I also use a GoPro to get footage on when I am going anywhere near water!!! I use the GoPro Hero5 Black and love it!!!

Lastly, I just wrote a whole Blog on my Drone called “My favorite Travel DJI Drone” check it out for more details but I love this drone so much!

My Editing Software

I use Final Cut Pro for everything!!! I find it the quickest and easiest!!! You can also add a bunch of Plugins for Filters and Transitions and etc.

However, It may be easier to edit if vlogging on an iphone with iMovie as well!!!

If you do not have a Mac you can use Premiere! Also easy to edit footage on!!!

Conclusion

You are all set you start chasing your dreams or just vlog for fun!!! I love watching vlogs and I love creating vlogs. They are your own personal movies that you will have for ever. So treasure them!!!

If you have a vlog channel Leave it down below I want to watch and let’s all spread the love!!!

Again you can Subscribe to my Vlog channel here!!! – Andrea M Jara

OUR LOVE STORY/ WE ARE ENGAGED!!!

Ever wonder how Ryan and I met and when? Here are all the details!!!

I noticed I haven’t announced on the blog besides in my IceLand Blog that we are OFFICIALLY ENGAGED!!! I feel like I never really talk about how Ryan and I met and our love story… so sit back relax and enjoy the ride down memory lane.

OUR FIRST PHOTO AND DATE — OUR FIRST PHOTO TOGETHER

So May 2011 I was just graduating Middle School and was super interested into Marching Band. I actually really wanted to be a drum major. So at my high school they had this month event called Maydays, where 8th graders would come in and test out marching band for a week to see if they would enjoy it. During Maydays on the last day we were on the courtyard marching with the actual high schoolers when Ryan was behind me and said I bounced a lot when I did my back step. He said “I’m gonna call you bouncy” and I just remember thinking okay… Later Ryan finds me on Facebook and gave me his phone number. At this time, I was 13 and I had recently broken up with a boy in middle school that was super unhealthy. But I just remember telling all my friends I would NEVER go out with Ryan that he was so nerdy and desperate. Everyone knew that we would end up together. So on June 23rd, 2011 Ryan asked me to go out with him.

This was my Freshman and Ryan’s Sophomore Year in Marching Band!!! Can you spot us?

June 23rd, 2011

I began going out with Ryan but it only lasted three days. My parents found out that I was going out with Ryan and did not want me to be with him so I broke up with him on June 26th, 2011. Ryan and I remained friends and I started talking to other people but kept finding my way back to Ryan. There was even a moment where I was telling people I didn’t like Ryan but then I saw him hanging out with this girl at the beach and I got super jealous and knew I just had to stop being a baby and go out with him so he would only be mine.

August 1st, 2011

On August 1st, after months of talking and hanging out, Ryan asked me to be his Eight One Eleven. I remember it was like 11 something at night when he asked but I of course said YES! now at this time my parents still did not know I was going out with this boy but after two months of knowing we were talking and hanging out they finally said “Ryan seems like a nice boy it is okay for you guys to go out and little did they know we already were lol.

OUR FIRST DATE AND MEETING MY MOM

The first photo on this blog is the first time we went out on a date which was a bowling alley right by my house that everyone in my high school went to. We went with my three friends at the time and when my mom came to pick me up Ryan introduced himself to my mom. It was so awkward haha Ryan was barely 15 so he still had a little boys voice that was super squeaky. If you do not know Ryan is also very tall but at the time he was still smaller haha

His First Time he came to my house

The photos in the background of this photo are the photos we took from the first time Ryan came over to my house. We were so young his mom even came over to introduce herself to my family and I. Back to the good ole days when we were so young that we were only allowed to be in the living room haha Ryan and I seriously became inseparable.

OUR FIRST KISS

OMG our first kiss was after a marching band practice, late at night in the courtyard and we both kinda went for it but after we kissed Ryan got so nervous and happy that HE LITERALLY RAN AWAY!!!! Like it was cute but was like uhhhh okay then….

But anyways this is the story on how we met and how we started to go out. Almost seven years later and we are less than a year away from being college graduates and engaged!!! We will be documenting everything from now on to the wedding on the blog and on my youtube channel ANDREA M JARA. SO GET EXCITED BECAUSE I AMMMMMM!!!!!

ENJOY MEMORY LANE OF OLD PHOTOS

HOW TO HAVE FUN IN HOUSTON, TEXAS

I went on a last minute 2 and a half week trip to Houston, Texas and here is everything I did and suggest you to do as well!

WHAT TO DO AND EAT IN HOUSTON, TEXAS

We flew to Houston, using the airline Southwest and arrive to the city early morning. We booked an AirBNB to stay in for the first 2 nights of our 2 week stay. We stayed by Rice University and after the two days we moved to the Galleria area and stayed at the Derek Hotel for the rest of our stay. While we were in Houston we were able to attend a family friend’s Dulce and Wedding. Houston is the perfect place who can literally shop till they drop as there is lots of shops to go to.

WHERE TO EAT:

SWEET PARIS WAS HONESTLY THE BEST CAFE I HAVE EVER BEEN TO IN MY LIFE. It was so good we made sure to go twice before we left to come back to Florida. They had the BEST Nutella Hot Chocolate! I also ordered The Waffle with Nutella, Chocolate and Strawberries. Ryan ordered the Crepe with Nutella, Strawberry and Bananas. I would suggest going to Sweet Paris on a week day or early morning as there is limited seating and long lines. When you walk into the Cafe you can grab a menu and choose from any of their crepes and waffles or make your own. You will not regret going to this sweet place!

Le Peep was walking distance from the hotel Derek and it is a cute little mom and pop looking brunch place. We ordered the LumberJack Breakfast and it came with 2 eggs, 2 sausages or bacon, LOTS of potatoes, and 2 pancakes. We got 2 blueberry pancakes for a few cents more. My boyfriend and I spilt the meal and it filled us up! We loved this place, it really makes you feel like you are at home away from home. We also had the nicest and quickest waiter as well! I almost forgot to mention our bill only came out to $14.75!!! IT IS SO CHEAP AND DELICIOUS!

SPRINKLES CUPCAKE sprinkles offers an indoor shop with a selection of cupcakes, cakes and other desserts. However, the COOLEST part about Sprinkles Cupcakes is the outside vending machine on the back side of the store. You can order up to 4 cupcakes and it comes out with each cupcake individually packages and ready to go! It is so convenient for the on the go Houston, travelers who just need some sugar.

My mom and I also stopped into a nice Italian restaurant that was literally in front of our Hotel. Grotto Ristorante was a super romantic date night restaurant. My mom and I sat night to an open fire and a lit Christmas Tree. We ordered the Raviolis and a Triple chocolate for dessert!

Other food suggestions:

EMPIRE CAFE- Cafe of Drinks, Sandwiches and Desserts

PF CHANGS- Chinese Food

SMASH BURGER- Burgers and Fries.

FIT FUEL – Energy Food, Smoothie Bowls and Protein meals.

WHAT TO DO IN HOUSTON, TEXAS

Visit the WaterWall by the Galleria Mall! This wall is perfect if you want to take a cute Instagram picture, pop a question or want to see something new. I will say it is a little cold being by the water but is totally worth a visit.

Visit Discovery Green Park, this park is FILLED with Instagram background walls, Ice Skating Rink and a foot court.

VISIT SKY HIGH SPORTS this trampoline park will make anyone a tired happy person. It has a foam pit, dodge ball court and trampoline walls.

If you will be in Houston during the winter season, I would highly suggest going to theHouston Zoo to see their christmas lights. It takes about an hour to 2 hours to walk around the whole zoo and walk and see all the Christmas lights and decorations. No animals are outside besides Giraffes, sadly, but the lights make up for it! I would also suggest purchasing your ticket online as the wait in line was about an hour wait. Also, on the first Tuesday afternoon of every month the zoo admission is FREE.

VISIT THE HOUSTON DOWNTOWN AQUARIUM, the aquarium also has rides, tigers and stingray feeding and petting station. It is perfect for a cute date downtown or fun for the family.

Visit the 3 story Galleria Mall, you may need a few hours and get a little lost but this mall is perfect for the person who loves to shop.

ABOUT OUR HOTEL:

We stayed in the hotel called Hotel Derek. This hotel is super close to restaurants, Galleria mall, Target and a little shopping center that has an IPIC, HORSE CARRIAGE RIDES THAT ARE FREE, AND GELATO! The hotel also has elevators that require a key to enter all floors for safety. They have a super cute outdoor pool and bar. A fully equipped gym with color water bottles. Starbucks and a restaurant downstairs and friendly customer service. The room were also a good size for a family of 4-5 as next to all windows is a twin size couch. The hotel will be linked and can be food by clicking the bold Hotel Derek above.

Photo courtesy of Hipmunk.

Thank you for reading and I hope this helps you with your trip to Houston, Texas.

I FACED MY FEAR AND WENT SKYDIVING

I faced my fears to inspire others! Read my blog to find out how my experience with SKYDIVING went!!!!

If you asked me a year ago if I would go skydiving I probably would’ve said Heck no! But Let’s go back in time. When I was around 14 years old, my Dad brought up the idea of going skydiving for my 16th birthday and his 40th birthday. At the time I was like YES, YOLO! LET’S GO! Then I thought to myself “shit, what if I die?” Then I began to think stuff like “What if the plane falls from the sky, what if I die from natural causes on a plane, what if the plane crashes”, and way more other stuff. I then took a flight to NYC and that flight was my first time EVER! Having an anxiety attack on an airplane… it was so weird… Like I knew it was anxiety because I have had attacks before, but I lost feeling in my body, I could not breath, I went numb in my lips and hands/feet and I could not concentrate or think. I was panicking. I thought I was going to DIE!!! I remember my dad telling me to breath in a bag. After that flight I told myself I WOULD NEVER EVER EVER GET ON ANOTHER AIRPLANE EVER AGAIN!!! My parents knew this was serious that I became fearful of something I used to do.. Like this was not my first flight why did I panic??? So I went to a therapist! In Therapy, I learned how to stay calm, control my breathing and to distract myself. My lady would put calming music on and read out step by step the experience of getting on an airplane and being on airplane… for example, “You are entering the airplane, the door has closed, seatbelt sign on, takeoff.” This helped me a lot to realize that the only way to really get over my “fear” is to do it. So June 2016, I took my first flight in years… Ryan and I went to Maine with his family!!! I did it!!! After that I went to California, then Europe and so many other places!!! LIKE WHAT HOW! Anyways back to skydiving… the day that we finally decided to go skydiving was September 12th, 2017.

I was scared but SUPER EXCITED! Super excited because I knew how far I have come and no matter what I will always know that I did it! So the day of, we drove about 2 hours to Clewiston, Florida. It was my brothers, dad and I who were jumping. We arrived to Spaceland Skydive and I was like crap but at the same time I feel like I was completely numb from feeling any type of emotion. So when we got there, we had to sign contracts stating you would not sue for the 100 reasons they listed for you to sign off. You then had to watch a video that said something could go wrong and they were not liable. You then went outside and met the person who will be attached to you and will be jumping out of the plane with you.

My guy was super cool and nice, which gave me a sign of relief because I was super scared I would get a cocky jerk who would spark my anxiety. So i’m putting on my suit and I am thinking shit am I really doing this? And I was also thinking, WOW I look good in this suit, WE LOOKED LIKE POWER RANGERS!!!

I was the green ranger, Jovani was the red ranger and Julian was black!!! Haha I am a dork… I know. Anyways, so the Jumpers also have cameras that video taped us the whole time and so they were getting our reactions for before we got on the airplane and at the time, like I said, I WAS SO EXCITED!!! I was all like yayaya let’s go!!!! YOLO!!! Then the plane got here…

you can hear the propellers running super LOUD! It’s like errrrrrrrrrrr….. And you hear the Jumpers yell, ALRIGHT READY LET’S GO!!! So they also said because Julian paid to have a camera person jump he had to jump first, which I was like man I wanted to be first because It was less time for me to get nervous lol Instead I went second. So we loaded up the plane…

I remember getting in, the Jumper strap us up in the plane and clips you to the plane because they fly with the door open. Everyone including myself is wearing an altitude watch which measures how high you are in the sky, we were jumping 14,000 feet so the watch had to go around 2 times. So we are on this plane and it starts to FREAKING MOVE… of course I am like yayayayay and I am laughing and having fun.

The plane even had a “No farting sign” lol Then I look over and see Julian, he looked like he was going to poop his pants. He did not want to go first. At this time, The plane keep getting higher and higher and at one point, one of the jumpers opened the door that we jump out of and scared the hell out of Julian and I!!! Julian even grabbed the wall with fear, but we still had like 5,000 more feet to go… this is when I realize “OMG I AM JUMPING OUT OF THIS PLANE” I stopped breathing for a second caught my breath and showed no fear because it can kiss my ass.

Then it was time, Julian jumped first… it looked like a cartoon, you jump and become a little ant in the sky. After Julian, was me… My jumper picked me up, walked me to the door and IT WAS MY TIME TO SHINE. We stood sideways and we shook our hips side to side and said 1, 2… JUMP…!!! And I WAS IN THE SKY!!! I COULD HEAR MY DAD AND JOVANI SCREAMING… I WAS FLYING…

Processed with VSCO with f2 preset — WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD

It felt so cold and it literally felt like you were floating… I was so like omg I can not stop smiling, but how do I breath with all this air blowing in my face.

I WAS SO OVER THE MOON HAPPY THOUGH, LIKE, I FLIPPING DID IT, I WAS SKYDIVING!!! I then felt so sick to my stomach, we pulled the parachute to open and we floated our way down… the world NEVER LOOKED MORE BEAUTIFUL!!! I still felt super sick and thought I was going to puke mid air, which is normal because of adrenaline… so my jumper took it smooth and we did some spins in the air and we were on the ground in minutes. I landed 3rd out of the 4 of us because I was so light haha but we landed and

I WAS NEVER MORE HAPPY!!! LIKE I WENT FROM BEING SCARED OF FLYING TO FLYING IN A SMALL AIRPLANE AND JUST JUMPING!!! OUT. OF. IT!!! LIKE WHAT??? I reunited with my family and could just hear Ryan and my mom screaming of joy that we made it and how proud they were. Like I was never more proud of myself… ever. You can LITERALLY DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TOO!!!! When I realized that I started living… so live your life and do new things! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

TO WATCH MY VLOG OF THIS DAY CLICK THE LINK- ANDREA M JARA SKYDIVE VLOG

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