Help me make my blog look pretty!

Okay, my blog is looking very boring. Can anyone tell me how to make it look cooler? All of the templates I've found use a little strip down the middle and cut off my pictures. Do I need to just suck it up and shrink them, or can anyone point me in a direction to find a good template that will let me keep my big pics?

Amanda from kevinandamanda.com has a great tutorial and a free template for your blog.

I hope it's ok to post here! If not, please delete it!

I don't know how big you make your pictures but for my blog I always do 500x500 because 600x600 don't fit well.