The other day I was getting ready for a birthday party and scratching my head for a present idea.

My friend was about to turn 45 and I'm certain she's seen pretty much everything in the gift giving pantheon over those years. And then it hit me - give her the start of what she dreams about and let her create the rest! Baaam! An idea was instantly born.

This particular birthday girl has been through an unfair share of life's ups and downs. Over the past year, however, she dug in her heels, folded her arms across her chest tight, and declared to the world, "no more!" She decided to simply love herself, believe in herself, and the rest would have to take care of itself!

I love that spirit, and as soon as it dawned on me what she needed, the gift came quite naturally.

I recalled that in a recent conversation, my friend had mentioned, with great enthusiasm, her love for bargain and consignment shopping. She showed me an outfit, made up entirely of designer brands, all purchased at Goodwill. My jaw dropped. You mean, that Invicta watch advertised in Vogue magazine came from Goodwill? And the Coach shoes - and bag too?  They did! She had it all pulled together so sharp.  Her enthusiasm brought on a lot of  verbal expletives and made me realize her tremendous passion for the subject.

Before I could say "wow!", the first words that came out of my mouth were: "you need to write a blog."  She looked at me as if to say "what did you just say?" And I said, "yes, a blog."

And that was the start of the "gift" for my friend Kamie.  Back at my home computer, looking for birthday gift ideas for her, I drifted over to GoDaddy.com and purchased www.KamiesBlog.com. And then a trickle effect of related gifts followed: personalized email, web design, some business coaching. None of these expensive - some in fact free. And the total "package" cost no more than a typical birthday gift from Bed, Bath & Body Works.  But it is, potentially, the start of a bigger dream.

My friend accepted the gift with open enthusiasm at her birthday party. But I appreciated the real depth of the enthusiasm when she texted me the next morning and told me that, in the middle of the night, she had started writing her first entry. Kamie's Blog.

#FindYourWings