First, a digital SLR is a huge investment both in cost and cost of upgrades. If you're not serious about getting into photography then I'd stay away from them since you won't really need the features offered.
High megapixels is not the same as high quality or even image quality, and unless you're printing poster sized photos, you aren't going to need 8 megapixels or anything like that. Look more for a high quality camera than one with high megapixel count.
My suggestion is the Canon S70, it's a great camera with manual features and isn't overly large to be carrying around. Believe me when I say that a Digital SLR or other high end camera isn't automatically going to give you good pictures, in fact unless you know the camera really well your pictures won't be any better than on a 100 dollar camera. I learnt this myself when I went from a 150 dollar Sony to a 1200 dollar Canon and saw that my pictures were no better with the new camera than the old one. The S70 would be an excellent camera to learn on and will take great pictures. The only downside is a slightly slow autofocus but I don't think it'd be too much of an issue since when trying to capture that special shot you'll probably want to use manual focus anyway.
If you really want to spend a bit more on a better camera, I'd look at leaving the comapct category behind and going with something that while slightly more cumbersome to lug around, will be easier to take great pictures with (though I wouldn't say you'll necessarily not be able to take as good pictures with the 70). In that field there is the Canon G6 and Sony 828.
Before buying any of them, I suggest you read the following three reviews
Sony 828 -
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf828/
Canon G6 -
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong6/
Canon S70 -
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons70/
