The Design
The page background is particularly fitting for this site. I have a background images site and the background is available there. It is derived from a core i7 micro-photograph.
I use a free theme called the untheme two-column as the bed for my blogs. This is designed to be a very basic theme that is easy to modify. I am able to give a blog very much the same look as the main site to which it is attached. This maintains the family look when going from site to blog or blog to site.