Hi Hi Trish, we met at SEEDs, I'd recommend you the Canon Powershot S50, and Sony V1, or the simpler & smaller Canon IXUS 400. Since they're pretty stylish imo and the performance is good too.. not too big in size as of your concern.
As for lens performance, and as far as prosumer cams are concerned, you may want to look at the lens speed, as in F stops that controls the aperture. faster lens allows faster shutter speed under same low light, to prevent motion blur.
Other than that, i dunno what else on d lens is important, unless you're getting a DSLR, which gets pretty darn technical. :bsmilie: