Lately, I have been thinking a lot about AdSense optimization. In reading through the forums over at SitePoint today, I came across this useful post asking for example of good blending of AdSense ads into content. There are some very nice examples in the post which may help to generate some ideas. I especially like this one. The site uses complimentary images very well, and does a great job of blending ads with the content.
I have been running some AdSense blending tests one of my sites, and I will publish the results here soon as a case study.