Oh, I missed this thread too but I'm glad you got the bike!

I had a bike that had a bar end shifter for the front and a brifter for the rear...on the same bike. That was fun! Actually, it was totally fine and when I eventually switched the bike to only bar ends, I liked it even more. My other two bikes had different types of shifters and outside of the first couple of minutes on each bike to remember which one I was riding, I rarely had any difficulty with any of them. The nice thing about bar ends for smaller people is that smaller hands are not a problem. My first road bike was too big for me and it was hard to operate the brifters in some situations.

Anyway, enjoy the new ride!