Greetings, and Welcome to the Board!
You'll get lots of good advice here, so the only thing I'll add is to check out the "Women and Guns" board for a more female-centric point of view
http://womenandguns.servertalk.in/wo...s-forum-1.html
The only down side (from a newbie perspective) about W&G is that you're expected to bring cookies when you first show up - I like chocolate chip cookies, myself - though brownies area always welcome
Also check out the Cornered Cat website, another popular stomping ground for women shooters
http://www.corneredcat.com/
All the best,
Rob