2. Great, thanks!!

1a. "Please make sure you don't use slug for your portfolio page is 'portfolio' - check this image"
I understand from that I need to change to slug to something that is not just 'portfolio'. I tried, but it doesn't work as the posts are still not showing no matter what I name the slug. Am I understanding you correctly?

1b. While trying to sort out the slug for 1a. above, I noticed that I am getting 404 on portfolio posts...
I tried re-saving permalinks in settings with no difference (as per the instructions in the link below), and even published a few of the soledad demo posts but they are showing as 404 too.
http://soledad.pencidesign.com/soledad-document/

1. When I click on 'view page' after updating the page for 'my portfolio' it leads to a page that says "Your portfolio archive currently has no entries" but I should have four posts (with relating categories) showing there that I have added to the portfolio section as per your video instruction about setting up a portfolio on YouTube.

2. Also, on the homepage (and on blog post page) there is a white bar showing over the top of my blog post image, is there any way to get rid of this? I have tried loading my site in different browsers, but the white strip is still there.

Thanks!