Earlier
this month you read #6 Things You Don’t Know About Dana Moody.
Today you’re
going to learn much more. Since Miz Dana is a very active and busy lady, I had to
tackle her in order to get her to answer my intermew questions. But even while
I was sitting on top of her, she was sewing a quilt, baking bread, designing a
wedding dress and stretching for a forthcoming marathon. She exhausts me!
So…without
further delay…meet Dana Moody:
Herman: Of all of your creative outlets, which of them gives you the
most satisfaction?
Dana: I have always been artsy-crafty…even when
little. Over my lifetime I have drawn, painted, done pottery, sewn clothing and
quilts, calligraphy, needle felting, paper laminated earrings, to name a few. I
like to create things. To go from one thing, to create something else. Like the
roving it takes to make a felted critter. Or the pieces of fabric cut and sewn
to make a quilt. I like to bake too….. but don’t like to eat the end result :)
And I really enjoy creating the Anipal Weddings. Using a graphics program I can
take an image and totally transform it to the wishes of the bride and groom so
no matter where they want the wedding to take place we can make it happen.
How did you discover Anipal tweeting?
I think I joined twitter in 2009, just to
follow some cyclists (@LanceArmstrong @leviLeipheimer @ghincpie ) and some
local news and weather folks. But they were kind of boring…. so in looking
around I found @sockington (and later met his person Jason!) and thought it was
the coolest thing that a cat named Socks was tweeting. From there I became
friends with @PrincessGwenie, @Super_Muffy, and @SmokeyPoodle and from them I
found a whole bunch of tweeting cats, dogs, stuffies, etc. So now most of those
I follow have four legs and fur! :) The anipal community is one of the most
caring and loving groups of pals I have ever come across.
Was the #AWP already in place before you joined the Anipals?
The very first anipal wedding was @hanseebundee
and @poppy_dog. It was very sweet. The images were of Hans and Poppy (as
themselves ) with cute dog wedding outfits on. They did the wedding themselves
and I think it started the wedding trend.
The first wedding I helped with was
@wildboutbirds Honeybell and @thatstripeycat's wedding. It took place on
September 2, 2010. My sweet friend Pawsome, @holliecatrocks was the original
Wedding Planner. We did quite a few weddings together, just the two of us. Over
time the Anipal Wedding Planners has added more members since the Anipal
community seem to be the marrying kind! :)
You can see the weddings we have done
here: http://anipalweddings.blogspot.com/
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| #BelleHerm Epic Wedding, Cast of Thousands |
#Pawcircle is now a huge part of the Anipal community. Did you
create #Pawcircle?
#Pawcircle was created by @jinjindoggy and
@bigboybosco years ago. They were chatting about their pal @BrunoTheDog, who
wasn't feeling well. Bosco asked JinJin to take his paw and form a
"pawcircle” for Bruno. JinJin put the hashtag on it ( #Pawcircle )
and quickly many anipals were joining paws in the #pawcircle. That is how it
began!
I thought it was such a lovely gesture that
whenever I saw someone use that hashtag I retweeted it. Soon pals were asking
to be put in the #pawcircle or have a #pawcircle for one if their friends or
family. If it weren't for Jinny and Bosco the #pawcircle wouldn't be what it is
today.
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| @BrunoTheDog |
 |
| @JinJinDoggy |
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| @BigBoyBosco |
You are very Sporty! Please tell us about your accomplishments.
I have always been active. As a youngster I
took ballet for many years. Swam on a swim team and ran track in school for a
bit. Have alpine skied since I was 11. Can Nordic classic and skate ski. Am a
road and mountain bike cyclist. But not until I was an adult did I ever enter
any events. I participated in some triathlons (swim-bike-run) and even won them
in my age group! From there I entered some running events. 10K and half
marathons. Then ran my first marathon. The California International Marathon. I
trained hard for it, hoping to just finish. I finished in 3:30, and found out
that qualified me for the Boston Marathon! I couldn’t pass up that opportunity,
so took a month off and started training again for Boston. I ran it in 4:01. I
was happy with that. Now I just run for fitness…and ski and cycle.
In all of your travels, what place do you consider most memorable?
Gosh, that’s a tough one. Each place has been
memorable. We have been to Bali, quite a few places in Mexico, Argentina,
Uruguay, France, Canada, Guatemala, Ecuador, Italy, Nepal and Thailand.
France was great, we followed the Tour de
France around a bit while we where there. Italy was fun, we took our bikes and
rode in the Maratona d’les Dolomites. The dolomites are spectacular. And great
cycling there…and food! Nepal was awesome. We did a 14 day trek on the Anapurna
circuit. The mountains there are breathtaking, the people so kind. In Bali
monkeys stole my sunglasses! :) In Ecuador we saw whales and Blue Footed
Boobies!
There are places we have been that I would like
to go back to….yet it’s a big world and there it allot more to see!
Would you share with us a bit about your family life?
I was born and raised in California. My parents
were from New York and moved to CA when my older brother was little. I have two
siblings, an older brother and a younger sister, neither of whom are on
twitter. :)
Jim ( @jim_moody and aka Mr Pixie) and I have
been together for 16 years, married for 5 years. We have the sweetest kitty,
known on twitter as TSK. We have many names for him… Toaster Strudel, Kit Kat,
Jingles, Goose (as in silly…). You can read his story on my blog, Meandering Moodys. :=
We moved from California to Bend, Oregon just
over a year ago, and we love it here.
Thank you so much, Dana! We thought you were pawsome before…but now
we know you’re super pawsome!
Dana: You’re welcome. Can you get off me now? I
have a marathon to run. *brushes white cat floof off her shirt, sprints out the
door.*
You can follow Dana on Twitter at @DanaPixie and on her fun blog, Meandering Moodys.
