It seems like you are trying to achieve something along these lines...
My Example
Here is the CSS snippet...
mylist a
{
float: left;
height: 30px;
padding: 0 15px;
color: #222;
text-transform: uppercase;
font: bold 12px/25px Arial, Helvetica;
text-decoration: none;
text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #000;
}
mylist li:hover > a
{
color: #222;
}
html #mylist li a:hover / IE6 */
{
color: #222;
}
mylist li:hover > ul
{
display: block !important;
}
/* Sub-menu */
#mylist ul
{
list-style: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: none !important;
position: absolute;
top: 25px;
width:150px;
z-index: 99999;
background: #fff;
background: -moz-linear-gradient(#555, #888);
background: -webkit-gradient(linear,left bottom,left top,color-stop(0, #888),color-stop(1, #555));
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#555, #888);
background: -o-linear-gradient(#555, #888);
background: -ms-linear-gradient(#555, #888);
background: linear-gradient(#555, #888);
-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 2px rgba(255,255,255,.5);
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 2px rgba(255,255,255,.5);
box-shadow: 0 0 2px rgba(255,255,255,.5);
-moz-border-radius: 5px;
border-radius: 5px;
}
#mylist ul li
{
float: none;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
display: block;
-moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 0 #111111, 0 2px 0 #777777;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 0 #111111, 0 2px 0 #777777;
box-shadow: 0 1px 0 #111111, 0 2px 0 #777777;
}
#mylist ul li:last-child
{
-moz-box-shadow: none;
-webkit-box-shadow: none;
box-shadow: none;
}
#mylist ul a
{
padding: 7px !important;
height: 10px;
width: 135px;
height: auto;
line-height: 1.8em !important;
text-decoration: none !important;
font-weight:normal;
display: block;
white-space: nowrap;
float: none;
color:#fff;
text-transform: none;
text-align:left;
}
*html #mylist ul a /* IE6 */
{
height: 10px;
}
*:first-child+html #mylist ul a /* IE7 */
{
height: 10px;
}
#mylist ul a:hover
{
background: #d7d7d7;
background: -moz-linear-gradient(#d7d7d7, #d7d7d7);
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#d7d7d7), to(#d7d7d7));
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#d7d7d7, #d7d7d7);
background: -o-linear-gradient(#d7d7d7, #d7d7d7);
background: -ms-linear-gradient(#d7d7d7, #d7d7d7);
background: linear-gradient(#d7d7d7, #d7d7d7);
color:#222;
text-shadow: none;
font-weight:bold;
border-bottom:#222;
}
#mylist ul li:first-child > a
{
-moz-border-radius: 5px 5px 0 0;
border-radius: 5px 5px 0 0;
}
#mylist ul li:first-child > a:after
{
content: '';
position: absolute;
left: 30px;
top: -8px;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 5px solid transparent;
border-right: 5px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 8px solid #444;
}
#mylist ul li:first-child a:hover:after
{
border-bottom-color: #d7d7d7;
}
#mylist ul li:last-child > a
{
-moz-border-radius: 0 0 5px 5px;
border-radius: 0 0 5px 5px;
}
SEE IT IN ACTION: http://jsfiddle.net/nPeaV/7430/