For registration, search on 'private registration'
For hosting, well I've never come across hosting that was anything but - they don't ask for id. If you really want to keep it quiet, make a gmail (or similar) address, create a paypal account for that email and find a host that will take paypal.
Thats a long enough trail that you shouldn't have to worry about friends and family following it!
Avoiding a trail for a professional would be something else, but this should be enough for your purposes.

Hi - I'm doing my 1st sites too. Alot of registrars have the option for privacy protection. If your anxious to secure your domains, you could buy them from the registrar & then get the privacy protection later, when you're ready to actually load your content. This will give you time to read up on the TOS & decide if you want it. Some of the policies can have hidden charges. If it's really important to you, then study the different privacy protection plans that different registrars offer before you choose the registrar. Of course if you've always got an extra hundred lying around to pay surprise fees it won't matter : ) I bought some w/ privacy protection, then when i found out the terms & conditions, i decided to cancel the option & instead, just start sleeping w/ a baseball bat under my bed B>D. Don't put your home phone & adress in the whois info anyway.
Also, like me, you need to do some serious searching & reading on this site. The general wisdom is that your host, your registrar, & your domain name server ( oh oh, what's that. i said when i thought i had learned it all!) should all be seperate companies. There are probably hundreds of threads here showing/ explaining why. Learn what they are here & search on web for tutorials on how to use DNS to link your domain to your new host (some DNS companies have their own tutorials you can read before buying their services.). Don't host w/ your registrar. Then in a dispute or a malfunction, they can hold your site hostage. As for spamming penalties, if true, this couldn't possibly apply to individual acts of self aggrandization & consequent heresay complaints to a registrar.. spamming means mass transmission of 1000's/millions of unsolicited e-mails.
Anyway, read as many posts on this site as you can. search on some of the terms & subjects., learn new terms & search some more. Every single question i've had so far has already been answered & posted & preserved in the archives. It's just incredible.

Thx for this detailled answer. Actually I was mostly looking into SEO..then I realized I should consider other ways of getting traffic to instead of just becoming a SEO...and now I realize I have to get a lot of technical stuff, too...but I think all of it is pretty interesting (okay...registering and finding a host maybe not so much lol).

I already read I shouldnt host with a registrar (or register with a host). However I heard there were certain registrars who had a shady policy of holding your domain hostage if they suspected u of spamming (ok i said this already and am glad spamming is only when u send 1000s of e-mails, etc.).

You said I shouldnt host with a registrar as they could hold my site hostage...however...couldnt the registrar just hold the domain hostage, too..and thus the site? (umm..i have a feeling i just confused something..lol)