Hi All,
First time posting, long time lurker, but I'm also long-time Mac addict and had to add to the all the good Mac vibes flowing here!
I offer a couple suggestions to Katina, our newest Mac recruit
I would start with the following less complicated (and less $$'s) applications first. Being new to the Mac operating system, it may help ease your initial confusion and get you up to speed faster. They may satisfy your needs for the time being and you can always upgrade to the higher end apps if you find yourself "outgrowing" the others.
I've been using Pages to create newsletters and do word processing. It's newest version is much improved and worthy of seriously checking out. A free Trial Version will come already loaded on your new MacBook Pro, (At $79, part of 3 programs in the iWork package, its a pretty good deal).
I would also try the new Photoshop Elements 6.0 for Mac when it's released (very soon) .
There are some nice basic tutorials on the Apple site for all the iLife and iWork applications, and also some specifically for Windows users switching to Macs.
And, of course, you've got all these wonderful Mac users here to help you too!!
Hope this helps,
Chriz