About Amanda & DWP
Hi there, my name is Amanda Zimmerman.
I’m 24 and spent the first bit of 2015 creating and experiencing a four-month nomadic adventure, living in four cities over the course of four months.
Why, you ask?
Well, I graduated from college in May 2014 with little direction — all I knew was that I thought I wanted to work for a cool company with “great company culture” — whatever that means…
After 2 months of job application after job application, I accepted a job, because it was an opportunity, not because I knew it would lead me to what I wanted to do with my life.
Just under six months later, I quit and the job application cycle started again. Except this time, I realized that I needed to figure out what direction I wanted to take to restart my career path. And then it dawned on me: I STILL DIDN’T KNOW!
Long story short, I read this awesome book, signed over my DC apartment lease, and in February 2015, started my self-curated “nomadic adventure” — spending exactly one month in New York City, Austin, San Francisco, and Chicago — meeting awesome people who feel truly passionate about what they do, volunteering and shadowing folks who have jobs I’ve always been interested in, but never had the guts to pursue, and taking the time to be adventurous and introspective as I answered the questions that I hoped would shape the rest of my life.
Yup. Shit just got real up in here.
For reflections on my journey, check out the 4 Months X 4 Cities tab on the Dresses With Pockets Medium profile!
If you’re feelin’ SUPER into this 4 Months X 4 Cities stuff, feast your beautiful eyes on this great interview about my journey, read this USA Today feature, and check out this profile by about.me!
Oh yeah, and be sure to sign up for my infrequent newsletter — it’s good stuff, I promise!
THE STORY BEHIND DRESSES WITH POCKETS
So why the blog title if this blog has NOTHING to do with fashion?
On the morning of August 1, 2014 I received a package with a dress that I had ordered online.
Admittedly, shortly before receiving the package, I obnoxiously emailed the online store telling them that their delivery was almost a week late…then I found out my dad had just been hoarding the package thinking it was for my mom. Customer service people must hate their lives — sorry for making them worse guys!
Anyway, I put on the dress and was super into it. But what attribute of the garment most convinced me that this was a wise and fantastic purchase? You guessed it: the pockets. They were a most pleasant surprise.
Dresses with pockets are instantly more awesome. That’s a fact. And because I felt this serge of affection toward my pocketed dress, I tweeted about it (naturally):
I realize I have yet to fully address the reasoning behind this blog title, so enough with the nonsense, here it is:
If I had to be a piece of clothing (what a horrible job interview question, am i right?!) I would be a dress with pockets. Why?
1. Dresses w/ Pockets: the anti-outfit
I’ve always loved dresses for the sole reason that they dissolve the task of having to pick out an appropriately matched outfit. It’s just one thing that you can simply slide over your body, it never comes untucked or unzipped, and it pretty much always looks the same on you. There is not enough time in life to think about matching your outfits. There just simply is not.
I am a dress with pockets because I believe that enjoying life is all about finding the simple solutions — there’s no time for dillydallying when there’s a big world out there with so much to do!
2. Dresses w/ Pockets: the deceivingly low-maintenance option
The number of times I’ve worn a dress and someone comments something along the lines of “well don’t you look fancy?” is absurd. And we all know that “well don’t you look fancy?” really translates to “girl, you’re trying way too hard right now”…ouch — passive aggressive girl language is on the top 10 list of things I hate in life. Contrary to popular believe, dress-wearing is possibly the least try-hard thing you could ever do. It requires very minimal effort and thought.
I am a dress with pockets because I too am a minimalist, I am completely content with doing fun things alone — including but not limited to: walking around the city with me, myself, and my headphones & camera, eating meals in public, and pretty much anything else that you can think of that normal people are supposed to do with a companion or two.
3. Dresses w/ Pockets: pure convenience
I am convinced that the brilliant & beautiful human who invented dresses with pockets did so because they understand some deep life truth that few on this Earth can comprehend. This person is in touch with some fantastically spiritual piece of this world and just plain old knows what’s up!
At this point you’re probably wondering what the heck is so great about these pockets I’m going on about and what a person would even put in them…Ignorance. (Just kidding, but only a little).
I’m the kind of person that carries my groceries in my arms to the point of real risk of dropping & breaking everything because I simply underestimate how difficult of a situation I have put myself in. Unless I’m responsible for taking care of others, I am mostly an unprepared person. I’ve regrettably worn TOMS on life-threatening hikes, I packed for all four years of college the night before leaving home, and my phone is almost always on the verge of dying.
Dresses with pockets get me. They leave nothing up to chance. If I’m carrying a credit card, my phone, and a water bottle around for the day but forget my purse/back pack…BOOM: I’ve got pockets for that. (This is something I do frequently).
If you’re not getting the point you probably should have stopped reading this a while ago. You probably should never ever read this blog either because I write the way that I speak, so this is really it!
Anyway, if you’re intrigued, enjoy the blog. Like things and leave comments. I enjoy sharing my perspective because it starts conversations and opens me up to how others perceive the world. So lets converse, be silly, and try to figure out this grand ol’ blue and green ball we like to call Earth!
