iCal is great but it would be even better if you could access it from your Menu Bar as well.
MenuCalendarClock iCal gives you instant access to your iCal calendars from a menu bar icon placed in the top right corner of your screen.
In just a click, you can reveal a monthly calendar view of all your iCal entries. Note that although most features are free to use, some advanced features require registration.
When you double click on a date in MenuCalendarClock iCal, it automatically launches iCal for editing. Clicking on the system cog in the Menu Bar or CMD-clicking on the Dock icon (which is a bit unnecessary considering this is just a plugin) reveals the preferences available.
There are an impressive array of customizations possible including the possibility to enter birthdays, filter which iCal calendars you want it to integrate with and configure Hotkeys to activate it.