Horizontal Navigation Bar Help!

Hello! I am currently in the middle of my first attempt at a custom Wordpress theme and I am struggling to write the necessary HTML/CSS. I was hoping to find some help with the code.

This is a mockup for the appearance I am going for. Suggestions for the navigation bar and the background for the text would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61677654@N03/5614534126/in/photostream

Thank You!

It looks great! No background needed for text though. I would keep it as simple as possible.

What do you have so far as the code goes for the navigation menu?

I really don't have anything for the navigation menu. I have tried several tutorials, and they either havent worked or i was not satisfied with the way they turned out.

this is a neato article on menus:http://www.alistapart.com/articles/horizdropdowns/

Short answer to your quesiton? float left on the list items. Just use a background image on the parent ul for the background.