Portrait photography with D70 and speedlights?

HI!

I am new to the forum and have been reading a great wealth of information you all have posted on lighting.. I really want the proper lights to do portraits right at home with my Nikon D70. I am in the market and have close to $2000 allocated for lighting and backdrops.

Today in a camera store, the worker said to start out with just one or even a couple of SB800's speedflashes. He claims I can get a great result with them as well as having the convenience of portability.

So I guess my questions are:

Will a couple of speedlights do what I am looking for? Which is to have creative lighting portraits and themed photo shoots of my little baby girl that look 'professional'? (I am total amature who, sadly, only got her first SLR 2 months ago)

Should I get the huge bulky lights like Alienbees? Continuous or Flash?

Should I get a light meter?

Any suggestions would be really appreciated. The pic of my girl below is the first themed shoot I ever did. I used sunlight, built-on flash, and horrible construction Hallogens (as you can tell they are very yellow). I HATE the harsh shadows :( (oh yea and after effects in PSP)

Thanks so much for any help you can give me! Renee

my little chef

http://myneatfinds.com/jcook2.jpg

Where to start. A trip to your local borders or Barnes and Noble and look for a book on basic lighting. I have been happy with the ones published by Amherst Media. I use my D70 with Alien Bee strobes in a studio setup and an SB800 or two on location if I can't use the Bee's. Check out some books, practice the basic setups and look into the Alien Bee strobes with an umbrella or two. Then post your shots here, make sure you give us exposure and set up information and then wait for the help, there are a great bunch of shooters around here.

Thanks for your post. I am going to check into the library and B&N after the holidays!