Can anyone give me some advice about a new cut?

For most of my life I`ve had long auburn hair. It`s taken me a while to grow out the demon fringe and basically my hair is now a blank canvas, begging for a style. I`m prepared to go shorter, maybe even as short as shoulder-length (might not sound like that much of a change to you, but when I get just few centimetres taken off, my hair feels naked for the following few days), but I don`t want a boring look. My hair is fairly straight-ish with no styling whatsoever and some natural copper highlights.

Someone suggested having my hair layered to keep the length that I love yet make it more managable. What do you think? I have absolutely no idea what sort of hair would look dated and horrible, which is why I need your help. God, I`m a sad case...*g*

I`d also appreciate your opinion on bangs... good? bad?

Lots of thankyous in advance to anyone who`s kind enough to post a link to a pic of something nice.

Cait xx

Thx for your help! I like the second idea, so I`m going to try and find a picture like that for my stylist.

cait xx