I was a photo nut for years, using regular old SLR's. Unfortunately, my choice of camera at the time was Konica. It was a nice unit, but they stopped making cameras and went with copiers. It eventually broke, so I went with digital point and shoots when they came out.
Recently, I got the bug again, so I started searching. Given my previous experience, I wanted to be sure that the company I chose would not vacate the camera market, so I went with Nikon.
Depending on what you mean by entry level.... I ended up buying the D80, because it has most of the bells and whistles, but is much easier to operate that the professional level cameras. If I got hot and heavy into it again, my Nikkor lenses would still fit the higher end Nikon's. So, I'd recommend Nikon, and depending on what you want to spend, the D80. Lense? The Nikkor VR 18-200 lens, will keep her busy for quite awhile.
Oh yeah. Macro. The Nikkor AF Micro 60 mm is a real nice lense. In fact, they have a newer than mine, which has some additional features.
I'm sure you know that will never go wrong with Nikkor.
That's my two cents.