The Newlywed Nolands: 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