Another Welcome, B4its2L8 !
I figured I would chime in with my 2 bits.....Awhile back, I also was looking to host my own personal domains, but only for email use. (I asked theog a zillion questions about domains, too!
) I was wanting a custom, individualized address for friend and family use. I ended up getting my last name domain at a couple of the tld's of the type you are referring to (.cx and .sc). Not for everyone, but for folks that I know and trust, I use firstname(at)lastname.cx. (for other use, I use less identifiable domains). I have never had an incident of someone forgetting my address, or confusing it with adding a ".com" at the end. In my experience, I send out mail, possibly to inform people of your new address, and then people put you in their address book. I don't really tell people verbally and expect they will remember it.
The way I have arranged it, I purchased my domains and have them hosted at Moniker.com, Namecheap.com, and Name.com. These are all fairly widely recognized, reputable businesses. I then have them hosted at Fastmail with my Enhanced account, and have not had any issues at all.
I agree with theog that to have your domains hosted at one place, and your mail hosted at another is preferable.
Just thought another's perspective would help decide on what you want. I'm sure everyone here at EMD has their own opinion as to what works best for them, but generally all the folks here are knowledgeable and genuinely want to help others.
Glad to have ya!