beginner board for a GIRL

[SFisburning]

Hey all! Just like the title says, I'm a beginner and a girl (5'2 and 135 lbs). My friend has taken me out several times and each time i've rented a behemoth of a soft top (9ft+) which was fine except that lugging a board almost twice my height got me tired even before getting into the water. On top of that, it's about $20 to rent a board, so it was getting pretty expensive. I was thinking about getting a funboard (around 7'6), possibly this one:
http://www.surfindustries.com/surfboards/blue_fun.php
or something similar in size and shape. What do you guys think? I've always been told to get something at least 8ft long for your first board, so i'm a little apprehensive of starting out on something under 8ft.

[Melisagrom]

I'm by no means an expert, but anyway... when I first started I rented out those big foam boards to get the standing up bit f surfing down pat . After I'd gotten a little experience with them I bought my first board for the same reason as you.. those foam boards are ridiculously heavy and renting a board costs so much!! I got a 6'9 Webber Fatburner (now called Pulse) which floated me just fine. I found it was quite stable in the water because it was a high volume so I was able to stand up on it alright even though it was a fair bit smaller than what I had ridden before. When I got a bit better that board was a great board to learn how to carve on, leading the way to purchasing a 6'4 a couple of months ago to grow my skills more.
The board you linked looks like a fun board to ride. One of my mates has a board that has very similar dimensions to that board and it's lasted him a long time. You want a board that will give you the max amount of waves you can get, but something you can improve on as well.. I wouldn't be afraid to go shorter, it's your call- we're probably about the same size and we can probably float a bit better on the shorter boards than the boys Even if you could borrow a friend's board, or maybe rent one more time but this time rent a board more similar to what you're looking at buying. some surf shops let you take out a board for a surf before you buy.
Sorry about the essay!! Hope that helped

[SFisburning]

Totally helped, thanks!