Building my blog:

1. Create test blog.
2. Make a bunch of fake posts and pages with images.
3. The about me section:

• Remove about me widget.
• Add image widget. Add your pic, and make sure it's scaled to fit in the side bar.
• Center it with this code in the HTML: 

.Image img{

display: block;

margin-left: auto;

margin-right: auto;

}




• Avoid the shadow and border with this code in the Add CSS:




.post-body img, .post-body .tr-caption-container, .Profile img, .Image img,

.BlogList .item-thumbnail img {

  padding: 0 !important;

  border: none !important;

  background: none !important;

  -moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;

  -webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;

  box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px transparent !important;

• Add text widget. Add text, and make sure to either center it (<center>TEXT<center\>) or align it however you want.

4. Get rid of nav bar.

UPDATE:
How to move your menu/pages above your header:
http://louisefranksdesigns.com/2013/01/move-blogger-menu-bar-above-header/
How to center your menu/pages:
http://beautifuldawndesigns.net/how-to-center-your-page-tabs-in-blogger/
Remover borders from menu/pages:
http://xomisse.com/blog/remove-borders-from-page-tabs-navigation/
Space out menu items:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/blogger/tpO_YiOvEOE