@iGirl_ In Illustrator (or even Photoshop and other apps), you can also create your own workspace. The purpose of creating you own 'Workspace' is that you can arrange the panels that you use all the time (such as color, character, swatches, layers) the way you use them most, you can minimize wasted time searching for specific options.
There are a bunch of set workspaces set-up optimized for different tasks, ranging from web, painting, or layout. This removes panels you don't need for that specific task, minimizing distractions and clutter. Since you are a recent CS6 user, 'Essentials Classic' be the closest one I would think. I usually get my students to create one on the panels we would use in our classes. And 'Essentials Classic' is the main one we use, and then remove some away.
We then click on New Workspace. And give it a name. And then it shows up as our own. See the attached workspace.png... I have one called design and another one for my students, called FWD38