A couple of days ago, out of the blue, I started singing these words:

“Getting to know yooooooou, getting to know all about yoooooooou. Getting to liiiiiike you, getting to hope you like me…”

It took me a minute of delving into the deep recesses of my musical-loving childhood before I could fish out the correct reference (hint: it’s not Julie Andrews…that’s what I thought at first too).

But I finally reeled it in (get it? because I was fishing for it…shutting up).

AND I’m awarding 5 free entries into our next giveaway (TBA very soon!) to the first person who comes up with A) the name of the movie this song is from and B) the name of the actress who sings it.

No Googling. Not that I’ll know (yes, I will). [no, I won’t]. 

Bonus entries for C) the (correctly spelled) name of her male costar and D) the name of the musical’s creators.

ANYway, the song gave me an idea, and I’m running with it!

I’m titling the next several 5 Things Thursdays: “Getting to Know You.”

This is Part 1.

After all, who doesn’t like getting little peeks into the windows of others’ lives?

So, today, I’m sharing five things you probably don’t already know about me, and I’m hoping you’ll play along.

If you’re a blogger, I’ll provide a linky at the bottom for a 5 Things Thursday “Getting to Know You” post.

Would love it if you’d grab a button!

five days five ways | 5 Things Thursday

Even if you don’t have a blog, I would love (seriously, C.A.P.I.T.A.L letters LOVE) for you to leave your own Getting to Know You list in the comments.

This is gonna be fuuuuu-uuuuun!

Here goes:

1. I can’t remember not singing. I mean, I didn’t come out of the womb belting arias or anything (can you imagine?  I can, and in my imagination, my mother recoils in horror and says something like, “Put it back!”), but I do have a distinct memory of receiving a ginormous, battery-operated microphone, complete with a burnt orange foam cover that resembled a huge pumpkin-flavored ice cream cone for my birthday.foam

I couldn’t have been more than 5.

It was obviously the perfect gift because I can’t remember what I got for my 6th-25th birthdays, but that 5th birthday present made an impression.

 

 

 

2. Speaking of singing and musicals, one of my favorite childhood pastimes was community theater. I grew up in a small town, and my best friend’s mom would direct children’s plays, so I was always guaranteed some part or another in one of her productions.

In our rendition of Ants’hillvania, I played the part of a spider who stuttered.

I think I was seven.

After one of our shows, a little old lady came up to Karen (my friend’s mom), patted her on the arm, and said, “It was soooo sweet of you to let a little girl with a stutter in your play.”

3. Continuing this theme, my proudest theatrical moment was definitely being picked to play one of the seven Von Trapp children in our town’s production of The Sound of Music.

Karen wasn’t even the director, and  there were 70+ other kids that auditioned!

But I’m pretty sure I got the part by sheer virtue of my ability to out-belt every other 8-year-old in the room. I think I saw the director jump when I sang my note (no joke, we got one note).

(Ask anyone who knows me, and they will gladly corroborate: I’ve got lungs).

I had 11 lines, and I still remember saying, “I’m Marta, and I’m going to be seven next Tuesday, and I want a pink parasol,” in the best British accent an 8-year-old East Texan could muster.

I wore my hair in Princess Leia buns.

marta

Marta

princess leia

Princess Leia

4. The lowest point in my “musical career” took place on my 18th birthday, when the rock band my brother and I put together scored a gig opening for Shaded Red, an actual legit Christian band with records. 

To say that we botched our set is an understatement of excruciating proportions.

We were terrible.

But the worst part of all is that we were playing at my brother’s college.

I got to go home humiliated but safe in the knowledge that I would probably never see anyone from that audience again.

Shae got to see them every day for the next two years.

Poor guy.

18th birthday

This pic was taken at my 18th birthday party. Can you spot me?

5. I was homeschooled until age 15 (with a brief two year stint in a tiny private middle school…my mom taught almost all my classes there too), which is how I managed to have the time to do all that theater stuff when I was young.

jeans jumpers

Remember my jeans jumpers rant from last week?

Well, I wore this little ditty (courtesy of Goodwill, of course) to a tacky sweater Christmas party last year.

90’s homeschooling moms everywhere would be so proud.

I can’t believe I didn’t win first place!

(Feel free to leave captions for the above pic in the comments section. I’ll happily award free giveaway entries to the best ones!)

Okay, now it’s your turn!

C’mon, you know you wanna!

0 Comments

  1. Totally funny! I was going to share with you some things about me, but you can read them here in my random post from last week…that sums it up, this week at least. https://holy-craft.blogspot.com/2012/01/random.html

    And I seriously can’t believe you didn’t win first prize either. That jumper totally rocks…preschool teachers everywhere will be wanting to get their hands on it!

    Rachel
    @holy craft

  2. I ___LOVED___ Shaded Red!! I know you won’t believe me, but I was actually just thinking about them yesterday!!! They were one of my favorites. And now I know someone who sang with them!!!

    (sigh)

  3. Thank you so much for featuring my no-sew pillow!
    ok, let see… Five things, hmm…
    1. I don’t like clutter and am always throwing stuff out, except my daughters outgrown clothes. I cant bear to get rid of them and her closet is bursting at the seams.
    2. I loved the twilight books and can’t wait for the last movie to come out.
    3. I make my husband buy candy and then make him hide it from me.
    4. I cant drink coffee past noon or it affects my sleep.
    5. I love anything pink. (Might be why I can’t get rid of any of my daughters stuff. I have even kept her boppy because it has a hot pink velour cover.)

    ~JamieS@ Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom

  4. Deborah Kerr sang “Getting to Know You” in the ‘King and I’ with Yul Brynner. However, the song was actually sung by Marni Nixon who dubbed the song for Miss Kerr. As everyone knows the “King and I” is a Rogers and Hammerstein musical (and a very good one I might add). BTW later Julie Andrews sang the song also – but IF you really want to get technical the song was sung by Marni Nixon – but everyone says it was sung by Deborah Kerr.

    2. If you can’t tell by the above answer – I am a little OCD – okay, a lot OCD – and a huge classic movie fan!
    3. I love to remodel and decorate – my husband and I just completely gutted our home (and I do mean gutted) and redid the entire interior.

    4. I am going to be a first time grandmother in June and I am super excited!

    5. I can’t carry a tune in a bucket!

  5. Actually, like in MANY of the musicals of the day, the actress did not do her own singing. Usually it was Marni Nixon (I think that is right), but I am not sure if she did the singing for Kerr in King & I or not.

  6. Fun! I love musicals and now I’m really wishing there was time to watch part of The King and I or The Sound of Music before I head off to work. One question, why did they have you do the part of Marta von Trapp with a British accent? The von Trapps are Austrian.

  7. I was definitely not blessed with the dancing gene either- I went to a “cardio sculpt” class yesterday and was so.off. that I am not even sure I got a workout!

  8. 1. I hate running, but there are times when going for a run sounds nice. I have been given strict orders, however, not to run. Apparently having crap knees doesn’t make for a future marathon runner.
    2. I love skittles and coke Zero.
    3. I will never turn down ice cream.
    4. I am the biggest pillow hog on the planet.
    5. It is a life goal to be in a musical someday.

  9. Ok I have no idea what that song is from, but now it’s stuck in my head and I just keep repeating it! AND I’m a terrible singer. This could be fun for my household….

  10. My Five Things:

    1. There has never been a low point in my life where I was not able to laugh
    2. I love watching movies and reading books. But never at the same time.
    3. If I could do anything at all for a living that I want, I would be a professional organizer. I’m a compulsively organized person and it would make me exquisitely happy to make other people that way too.
    4. Sometimes when my dogs look at me, I make up comments that I think they should be making.
    5. There are parts of my day/week/life that have a mental soundtrack

    Does that help you get to know me better? I’m a little strange. And my neural pathways aren’t lit very well for the casual passerby.

  11. AHH!!! You seriously never cease to crack me up! And for the record, I was in a bazillion plays at our local theater (not too far from you) too, thanks to the “my kid might not be socialized” mentality of my 90’s era jean-jumper-wearing mom. Actually, I LOVED theater, and I was already pretty socialized, so it worked out. What didn’t work out is that I CANNOT dance. I can sing. I got several lead musicals in back-to-back productions, but the choreographers hated working with me. So much so that one of them (who shall remained unnamed because she’s pretty well known in these parts) told every director at the civic theater that she would not choreograph me if they cast me in another lead role. Ouch.

    As for the caption for photo:

    “I took away my DS (dear son)’s Christmas gift because we have a strictly homemade toy weapons policy in our home.” (And a strict homemade wardrobe policy, but we won’t mention that.)

  12. And the 5 things about me…

    I’ve been a homeschool mom who used to wear a denim jumper for over 16 years.
    Only God enjoys my singing, the rest of the world is horrified by it.
    I sleep with headphones & glasses on (because I fall asleep watching dvds).
    I have MS, but praise God it is well-controlled with amazing meds.
    I drink soda like water.

I love hearing from you guys!