Reuse frame with emacsclient and/or use shell aliases when finding files

[Jacob Gerlach]

I'm trying to better integrate my workflow in emacs. I've read a lot
about using emacs server, and experimented a little bit with setting
it up. If I open files with emacsclient, I end up with multiple
separate frames (I think I mean frame and not window. I've never been
positive I correctly understand the terminology). Although the frames
are connected through the server, I miss some of the navigation
functionality I get when I have multiple windows in a frame
(other-window, kill-buffer-and-window, etc).

What I think that I want to do is figure out how to reuse an existing
GUI frame if it exists. In other words, if I run `emacsclient -c
foofile' from my shell and I already have a frame open, I would like
foofile to open in that frame (and have the option to split the frame
if possible). If no frame is open (i.e. just the server), I would 
like the normal behavior of opening a new frame.

I realize that another (perhaps better option) is to use emacs as my
shell. I'm experimenting with this but I am not sold yet.

Another problem, and the reason I'm opening multiple files from the
shell in the first place (instead of from within emacs), is that I
mostly navigate around between different projects using shell aliases.
Is there any way to use those aliases so that when I find-file I don't
have to manually navigate to the desired directory?

Any other recommendations that come to mind to migrate work from the
shell to emacs are welcome.