On looking at your site a bit more, I see you did mean to put the featured post on every page, and put it first. Actually, that’s probably not so bad, and it’s beautifully done. I’m on a netbook, which has a small screen, so the featured posts obscured the rest of the pages for a while – but of course most people are not on netbooks.
I wonder why you don’t find the navigation smooth? I can’t see anything wrong with it, to tell you the truth.