YEah, CM and AOKP are not bloated at all. LOL. The stock ROM on my Note is over 500MB. 500!!! ALL the ROMs on XDA I have found are under 150MB. I'd say that's pretty amazing considering it's debloated and gives MORE functionality than the stock 500MB ROM.
I have tried a couple ROMs as small as 75MB, but I've stuck mostly with CM ROMs (running CM10 Oct5 nightly right now, sweet!).
Don't listen to these lies of bloat. Definitely spend some time testing a few different ROMs, nobody can tell you what the best ROM is since that varies a lot based on a lot of factors. Which source it's based on, the kernel, your particular phone, your taste, etc.
Enjoy the ride and be careful to follow all the steps to the letter!!