IM BACK!!! YAY!

Good evening! It has been SOOOO LONG since I have blogged because everything in the world has been topsy turvy crazy lately.. But WONDERFUL. Rickey and I have finally moved into the house in Cleveland and I am getting the new job going just beautifully.. Really excited! I am working in the ICU at Bolivar Medical Center and also doing some PRN work at North Sunflower Medical Center in Ruleville, MS (8 miles outside of Cleveland).. Rickey and I finished the semester beautifully with happy smiles on our faces and are in the new house cooking dinner and loving life. We have "some" of our new furniture and some furniture we dont have yet. We have tons of ideas for restoring pieces that we have and are just so excited. :) For all those folks who have been dying to see pics of the house, I have tagged some here for you! ENJOY! Tonight Rickey and I went grocery shopping and made spaghetti for dinner together. This was fun. Since my new job is working 3- 12 hour shifts at night I am going to relish in my time with him. When baseball season starts we wont be seeing each other very much but we can always make it work... Its a different kind of life that we are experiancing right now, the "shopping on a budget", the "planning ahead for things that we need like life insurance and our 401K", the "not driving each other crazy while we learn the ropes of each others habits", just the living.. But its wonderful and I love it and I wouldnt take a single second of this time for anything else in the entire world....
Soooooo I do have some new NEWS for all my blog readers who might not be in the loop (since I havent blogged in ages)... Rickey and I have decided to change the location of our wedding venue and reception. After almost 5 months of planning, we both began to realize that we were unhappy with the way that planning had been going. We realized that the people we had "hired" to make our day so very special and so very "US" had turned into this disaster plan of what other people wanted our wedding to be. People wanted this HUGE affair that had just gotten completely out of hand. Paying a caterer to cater the wedding how we DIDNT want or the venue that we thought we wanted turned out to be NOT what we wanted after all. Somehow, it took us 5 months of pressure and "rules" from these people to finally break and say, "you know what, this ISNT what we want" and to walk way... With the GREAT and BLESSED support from our families, who have paid deposits and invested time and many hours of effort into researching, planning, and speaking with the venues, we called all our deposit holders back and said "ENOUGH"... walking away from 5 months of planning.. I know, I know, it sounds dramatic and just crazy but our hearts said this just wasnt it.. Rickey and I had been talking about what to do, goodness only knows how many times I cried thinking about where to go from here and what to do.... and Finally it hit us... Why not go with our very first instict, the instinct that we had from the very get-go, the place we thought of right after I said "yes" to Rickey's proposal......
Monmouth Plantation in Natchez.
Yes, thats right.. Natchez, the perfect spot for us BOTH, being that its 2 and a half hours from Oxford and 2 and a half hours from Baton Rouge.. We decided that we wanted to share our special day in a special place with our most special people, our friends and family. Rickey and I want to say our vows to each other that we have written, and this will be such an intimate moment for us, so we wanted to share this as a private event, something that the people who love us and those who we love will be a part of. This place is also special to us because my sister Candice was proposed to here and its just a gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS home. One of my best gals, Joeli, can attest for me and say that my ideal wedding venue right after I got engaged was "an old, southern, antebellum home that I could have a garden wedding in.." and this is what I have now... We are excited, more so elated, and ultimately pleased in our decisions. This venue will do everything for us, being that its an all inclusive location, so we will do the ceremony in the Wisteria Pergola Garden and have the reception at the Main House Garden Room and Garden. Our guests will have the option to stay in one of the 29 Guest rooms the evening of our wedding and we are even considering having the rehearsal dinner here as well. All in one grand spot. I love this idea of just our weekend getaway. I think that for the first time I finally stood up, after being pressed to make a decision, and said "this is what I want and this is how I will make it happen"... I can look at Rickey and know in my heart that he is sooooooo happy with the choices that we have made together, and when I say my prayers at night, I have this feeling of peace in my heart, knowing that my Betty agrees. I am excited :)
So everyone start booking your hotel rooms at the venue.. Its gonna be awesome!
For your entertainment, I have some pics for you of the Cleveland house as well..
All my love.... Lace

walking into the living room from the breakfast nook.

Abner is Happy in his new home! :)

MESSY Bedroom but PRETTY NEW SLEIGH BED!! still awaiting new linens and bedding

front door view of living room and Rickey's catching painting by Shannon Jex of Natchez




dresser and mirror in the bathroom next to shower

our tiny but precious little bathroom sink.. getting a new mirror and curtain

Rickey in the Kitchen washing some dishes.. sweet




built in bookshelves in the breakfast nook

some of our plates and pottery barn wine glasses on the other shelf in the breakfast nook. I love my Good Earth plate!

our sweet little christmas tree

the living room with the Christmas tree and new couches









second view

living room view from Kitchen and Breakfast nook

breakfast nook and my table with chairs that I recovered myself with an antique gold damask fabric i LOVE!

Give Thanks...

I am definately a person of self reflection. With the holidays coming up, there are so many things that have been going through my mind that I am thankful for. My blog tonight is just to unleash the appreciation in my heart for those people and things that I am grateful for.

I am thankful for....

My Savior, who smiles down upon me daily and believes in the person that I am. The One who gave his life so that I could walk the path that he has chosen for me. I will never be enough for my Lord but he will forever and always be enough for me.

My family and friends.. (this includes my new friends and soon to be family, the nolands).. These people get "Me" and all the things that make this little heart tick. They see around my rough edges and accept me for all my challenges and mistakes, my pros and cons, and every little detail in between.

My puppy.. This baby brings such joy and happiness to my life, I cannot describe. Being that he is my VERY FIRST PET of my own, I totally get the "man's best friend" description. He loves me unconditionally and no matter what, is waiting at the door with a smile (literally) on his face and a howl to let out, to tell me he missed me and loves me. He is so precious and I would never take anything for him. Ever.

My bed.. I know that it sounds strange but one of my friends, Joy Cooper and I, both felt like this was something that we should be sooooo grateful for in our lives. I am able to have the luxury of sheets, and a matress that is finely made, and comfortable pillows and decor.. And when I get to leave work and head home to crawl in my bed, or when I'm sick, or even when I want to relax and watch a movie, I have that very own wonderful bed of mine to crawl into.. And do we all realize how many people in this world do not have a bed? So many sleep on the ground, or on a board, straw or make-shift bed, and thr thought of not having a place that i could go to uncoil makes me sad. So no matter what, I am always thankful for my bed.

My Coworkers... These are people who literally make a heart beat, bring a life into the world, save someone from cancer, or prevent someone from losing a life. These are people who take care of the critical and the sad, that care with more compassion than anyone in the world, and that rapture in the sight of helping others and making sure needs are met. I have worked with the most intelligent people and am proud to say that my career in the medical field has made me appreciate education and life more than anything. I am constantly challenged by these fine people, and most make my day just.. fun! I cannot wait to further my education because of these people and the impact that they have made on me to constantly challenge myself and to help others before anything else. I work with amazing people and proud to say that Nursing and Medicine is my calling.

My Mom, Mrs. Dana, Candice, and allllllll my wedding planners.... Since the Harris-Noland Nuptials are right around the corner (7 months and a week from Sat.), its definately been something that I have been working on for MONTHS now. and Without these people helping me, and brainstorming for me, and just loving me enough to listen to my ideas and my wants- I COULDNT DO THIS WITHOUT THEM. That's a fact. They are so awesome and amazing, and have no idea how any of this would happen without them.. They count down the days with me and i love it.

My Fiance and soon to be Husband... I cant just add him in the family category or friends category or even wedding planner category, although he is included in all of those.. He's amazing. What else can I say? At a point in my life where I didnt know where i was going, who I wanted to be, or what I wanted to do, he showed up and "climbed my wall" as he likes to call it. Rick makes me laugh and engages me as a person, always making me strive to be a better person, not only for him but for myself. He brings out the good in me and makes me smile, even more than i regularly do (and if you know me, then you know how much I smile). Rickey takes care of me when Im sick, picks out wedding china, and treats every single day as if its my birthday. He's brilliant and OH SO VERY TALENTED in the most BEAUTIFUL way. His talents are God given and used for our Lord above and his heart is the sweetest I have ever known. All in all, the guy's a dang great catch. How I got to be so lucky and blessed, I have no idea.... He's my perfection and I am so very thankful for him...


I am thankful also for sleep... So now i will do that..
More to come tomorrow.. Let me hear things that you guys are thankful for this holiday season!

Avec tout mon couer!
Lacey Harris Noland (to be). Has a ring to it, I'd say.

Dex

This post is short and sweet. Even though I am marrying into a LSU Tigers Family, my heart will always be tied to my Ole Miss Rebels.. I am so proud to say that this team and this football (and sports) family here in Oxford is a good one. Being that we are all in this small town, you pretty much know everyone that is affiliated with the athletics or programs in some shape or fashion. I am lucky to know most of the coaching staff and some of the players through mutual friends, etc etc, and this is just amazing. Ole Miss Football Player Dexter McCluster is just a standout guy and his testimony has been shared through Ole Miss Campus Crusade, a christian organization that my sisters are affiliated with on campus. Watch this. This guy is amazing. To be in such a position that he is recognized and known by EVERYONE on in this town and to open his heart and his mind to his beliefs is such a beautiful thing.. The Lord has blessed us all, and Dex isnt afraid to convey his love for God. I think its awesome. Enjoy.....

Avec Tout mon couer.
Lace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWsGL1lbmHk

Next?

This weekend was lazy yet busy for me and Rick.. After feeling like I was (literally) dying Thursday and Friday, I somehow managed to drive myself to Cleveland on Friday evening after work to see Rickey. We didnt do a SINGLE thing Friday night other than watch movies and eat take out, with a side of cold medicine for me. We were both so exhausted from the week and that we passed out at 9:30. Man, we must be getting old! Saturday morning we had to get up and take Abner to the vet to get some meds and Rickey had to go work on the baseball field. I dont care what any other coach says about thier sport, but there isnt a sport that works as hard during the off season as baseball coaches do! Rickey spends 6 out of the 7 days of the week working on the field and making sure its being tended to. He loves it though, and I think that its his release. After he got home, we managed to load ourselves into the truck as well as a huge trailor that we borrowed from Coach Batts (Rickey's coaching friend from Delta State) and we headed to Water Valley to pick up the new furniture that my mom bought us for the new house. This was our "early" Christmas present so needless to say we were so excited. It took us about 3 hours to get to WV, load up the furniture, and drive it back to Cleveland. Once we got home, it took us about 3 MORE hours to get the furniture into the house since none of it would fit through the door! Rickey and Michael Neimann had to literally take all the furniture apart to get it inside and then we put it back together. Aside from the trouble, the living room area looks FANTASTIC and I cannot wait to get the rest of our furniture in. Sat night we were exhausted and just hung out around the house. Our weekends have always been our time to be lazy, but here lately, when we get a second to SLOWWWWW DOWNNN, we definately do that. Sunday we slept late and had Mexican for lunch. We tried to shop around the antique shops for furniture ideas but everything in Cleveland was closed. We headed to some other stores and got great ideas of how we would like to decorate our very first Christmas tree together. I never in a million years thought that Rickey would get into this and be so excited but we were both JACKED when we started picking out ornaments and setting color schemes. We hung out and watched football for the rest of the day. Rickey had to leave to go tend to the baseball players at weights so I hung out and got together our list for things in the next few weeks.. Holidays are going to be awesome and we cannot wait! Between Thanksgiving in Texas and Denham Springs, to finals, to moving into the new house, then Christmas party time with my family in Memphis, Oxford, and Christmas Day with the Nolands- I CANNOT WAIT! YAY! I will post pics of the house as soon as we get everything moved and organized in the next few weeks..

On a side note, I just want to say that Rickey has officially sent in his paperwork for graduation and declared his Masters in Special Education. I am SOOOOO PROUD of him. It takes such a strong, strong person to be able to work with special needs students and he excels with this beautifully. His precious heart is just one among the millions of reasons that i love him.

More to come later... SLEEEEEPPPPPPPYYYYYYYY TIME.

Avec tout mon couer,
Lace

Tick.... Tick.... Tick....

That time of mine keeps ticking away.. But it's a good thing, I won't lie. We are at 227 Days until the wedding and the rush to get things accomplished seems to be increasing, which means my little body is working overtime. We have the house in Cleveland as "ours", and my mom bought us a complete living room suite today as mine and Rickey's Christmas gift from her. And we have our bedroom suite from the Noland's who so graciously let us have it for our new house so we have been working on allllll the moving and organizing. I swear, I dont know what Rickey and I would do without our families. We are so very blessed, I cannot even describe. So we will be moving things each weekend to try to make the load lighter before the huge move in December, all the while working, schooling, and planning between our little lives. I am ready to wake up one morning and my little countdown "ticker" I have on my computer to say "7 days til the wedding".. I talked to Mrs. Dana today who helped me (and has been helping me since day one) with ideas for the reception, and the rehearsal dinner, and the invitations, and well.. everything! She is going to be coming to Oxford the week of the wedding to help me decorate and you just do not KNOWWWWW what a huge help that will be. If you happen to be from the Oxford area then you know how vast and open the Powerhouse (and the church in that manor) can be.. They are seriously a blank canvas, and I need all the hands that I can get. I am more so ready to be able to walk down the aisle to Rickey, say my vows, enjoy my time with my family and friends, and head to the honeymoon.. Then after that I will enjoy my happy and simple little life in Cleveland as a Delta State Baseball Coach's wife..... while waiting to move back to Denham. ;)

Enough for tonight. Im sick with a terrible sore throat and have to head out of town in the morning to a meeting in Tennessee. Then work, work, work, moving, and rest. Hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Avec tout mon couer,

Lace

Home Sweet Home :)

Here are some pictures that Rickey was able to send me of the house that we got in Cleveland. Like I said earlier, its an older house but its cute and quaint and totally us.. :) I will try to get more pics for you all when I go visit this weekend.

Avec tout mon couer,
Lace



Part of Abner's backyard. He will not fit in that doggiehouse.

Breakfast area with bay windows. This is coming in the side door.

Front door and living room. To the right is the breakfast area

Looking into hallway from Master Bedroom

Part of the Master Bedroom

Living Room! I love the pretty wood floors!!

Side view of the house. This is the side yard

Front and side view of the house. Right on Highway 8 and

two blocks from Delta State University. Rickey and I can WALK

ACROSS THE STREET to campus.

Party Time!

This weekend was one of the best weekends I have had in suchhhh a long time! Our engagement party was soooo much fun and we had a great time with family and friends in our cute and small little town of Oxford, MS. Candice did an incredible job of hosting the shin dig at the 5 Twelve (the old Oliver Britt house in Oxford). There were beautiful flower arrangements done by my sweet friend (and wedding florist) Ashley Daniels of The Twisted Twig and Syd at the venue did a great job of food and drinks! Friday Afternoon before the party we had our guests come into town. Rickey, Candice, Mrs. Dana, Papa Rick and myself went around Oxford and looked at the Church of Christ and the Powerhouse, our wedding venues. They loved them and we brainstomed ideas for decorations and entertainment for the wedding. I think it was fun for Candice and Mrs. Dana to get to see what I have been emailing them about for months and months! ;) We then went and toured two places that we are looking to use for rehearsal dinner sites. We all went back home soon after and got ready for the party! We had a great turn out for the evening and after the party, went out to our favorite local hangout in Oxford, the Library. We had a BLAST! All the sisters and brother and friends were there to celebrate with us and we danced the night away!


On saturday we woke up and headed back to the sports bar for all the guys to watch the LSU vs Alabama game. After the game was over we walked to the Ole Miss game and hung out there with Ashley and Molly Adyson. The guys loved watching Molly Adyson and playing with her! Shes so precious. We decided to head back to the library to do some more dancing after the Ole Miss game and the LSU boys totally took the show.. All in all it was a blast. I am so glad that everyone had a great time and got to celebrate this weekend with us.. I kept thinking to myself, this is just awesome.. I loved that our best friends and sisters/brothers got to hang out because the next time that we will probably ALL be together again, will be at the wedding....... :)
Sunday our out of town guests headed home and Rickey and I were sooo exhausted we just were lazy. With a lack of sleep and exhaustion, we slept most of the day and watched the Saints win! YAY! Rickey and I decided that this is why there is a thing called a "honeymoon" after a wedding, because it can be sooooo tiring when you have these BIG weekends that you have to have some down time to come off the happy "high"..


Speaking of the honeymoon........ We have officially booked the HONEYMOON! YAY! We will be staying 7 nights at the Excellence Resort at Playa Mujeres in Mexico. This is about 35 miles outside of Cancun' and is an all inclusive luxury/gourmet resort which we BOTH were sooo excited about. When Rickey and I started discussing locations for the honeymoon, we both had things that we wanted.. We wanted it to be super luxurious-which it is... We wanted it to offer us great food since we love to dine out-it does... We wanted it to be all inclusive so we dont have to worry about expenses while we are there- it is... and we DID NOT want to have to fly and entire day to get somewhere- WE DONT! Our flight from Memphis is only 2 and a half hours and we are sooooo excited. We could have gone pretty much anywhere that we wanted but this was perfect for us because it met every single one of our expectations. I cannot wait to go. And when we booked our reservations, we were granted the honeymoon bonus and upgrade which allows us to have a spa day, be in the excellence VIP club during our stay, and have our chef cook us a candlelight dinner on the beach.. Now come on, how awesome is that! We are so excited and cannot wait........


More exciting news! WE FOUND A HOUSE AND WE GOT IT! Rickey is signing the contract tomorrow and getting the keys! We will officially be living there in December and are sooo excited. Like I have been saying, it has been MORE than difficult to find a place to live in cleveland because homes are mostly for sale and we had no intentions of buying a place in the delta. We plan to move to Baton Rouge/Denham Springs as soon as Rickey finishes his masters and didnt want to have to worry about selling a house we havent lived in for more than 2 years. That being said, we had a budget we wanted to stick with in the rental department and some other amentities that we needed (like a pen for abner in the backyard, etc.).. This house is PERFECT for us! Its a great size, on a corner lot so it has a nice big front and side yard, has a fenced in backyard area for Abner to play in, pretty wood floors (which totally sold me) and all in all is just a quaint little first time home. Its an older house and reminds me a lot of the Belhaven houses in Jackson. We have some great decoration ideas and we are just so excited. It makes all this getting married and starting a life together thing seem so much more real! I will post pics as soon as I get a chance to get to cleveland this weekend and take some. I will also put up some pictures from the engagement party as soon as more are uploaded from friends and family. For now, here are some of the funny and fun pics from the evening!

Avec tout mon couer,
Lacey Noland, in 229 days.

Rickey's Birthday!!! WOO HOO!

My friend Joeli, who also does a blog, does this birthday ABC thing for her friends on thier special day. In honor of my precious precious PRECIOUSSSSS fiance', I thought that I would follow the trend.. Here goes...

A- abners daddy. :)
B - Baseball coach and player
C- "Catch" as I like to call him
D - Determined to suceed
E - Everything I could EVER want
F - Fighting Okra. Ha.. GO DELTA STATE! ;)
G - God's blessing to my life. I am so grateful
H - Happy when he's sleeping
I - Ice Cream Fanatic
J - Josh Cantu's best buddy
K - Keeper of my little heart.
L- Lacey Marie NOLAND :)
M - Mama's Dana's baby boy
N - NOLAND on the back of his jersey makes me proud.
O - Opponents feared him behind the plate
P - Pudge is his favorite catcher
Q - Quality time with family and friends is his world
R - Rickdog, Rickery, and Rickcat are a few of his nicknames
S - St. Louis Cardinals will always be in his heart.
T - Tigers of the LSU kind is his team!
U - U know him, then you know he loves sweets and candies!
V - VERY FUNNY and quick witted
W - Water Valley's Turnage Drug store has his favorite milkshake
X - eXtraordinary man when it comes to kids
Y - You dont know him, You're missing out
Z - Zero things he needs to change cause I love him just the way he is!


:) Everyone tell Rickey Happy Birthday! We are going to celebrate this weekend so if you are around the Oxford area, come see us! All our friends and family are coming to an engagement party we are having soooooo I should have lots more to post after the weekend! YAY!

Avec tout mon couer,
Lace

and the CUTEST nephew in the world award goes toooooo....

HARRISON!!!! He is just the cutest baby in the whole entire world and I am so proud to show him to you! I have put two pics up of Harrison from over the weekend. Candice was making dinner and she said she heard him saying "Hey Harrison! Hey Harrison! Hey Harrison!".. She turned around and realized that he had found HIS SHADOW and was amazed by it! Luckily, she got to take some pics of him talking to his shadow and waving at it.. I absolutely LOVE these... My nephew is precious!

Avec tout mon couer...

Lace

As Promised...

As promised, I have attached some of the pictures from this weekend's Delta State University Baseball Alumni weekend.. Enjoy!

Avec tout mon couer,

Lacey


Chris "Critter" Clark... Rickey's best friend and teammate




Brett Durand, Rickey's best friend and teammate (Brett is the pitcher that Rickey has caught for over 11 years)





My sweet Rickey in all his St. Louis Cardinals catching gear and DSU uniform.





Rickey Noland... my catch!





Rickey just got an awesome hit!

Rickey catching and Clay Sartain hitting... Clay is Rickey's former teammate and Groomsman in our wedding.

Critter Clark batting and Rickey catching..

MY BOYS... from L to R: Michael Neimann, Brett Durand, Critter Clark, Brancy Cummings, Rickey Noland, Devin Goodwin, Chris Weast... Almost all of these guys are best friends, best friend "teammates" or groomsmen.

Former DSU Player Stuart Cliburn..

Former DSU baseball Alumni Jim Miles...

Coaches... from L to R: Coach Dave "Boo" Ferris, Coach Bill Marchant, Coach Mike Kinnison

Coaches Boo Ferris and Mike Kinnison

All the participants in the DSU Baseball Alumni game

My sweet sweet Rickey.. he LOVED this reunion. It was so much fun!

current DSU baseball players being recognized...

Coach Kinnison and some of his "boys"

Coach Ferris and Coach Marchant with the guys

Former DSU player Chris Tice