a new look?

After I'm finished with this thesis (soon!), I plan to invest quite a bit more time into writing, including blogging. I've been toying with the idea of a new template or even a new blog client. I'm not sure I want to pay much (or at all) for one, but I'm bored with blogger already. And for some reason, the blogger bar at the top annoys me to no end.

Any suggestions? Another blog client? A place where you've found some better templates for blogger?