My friend wants me to make a cake for her sister in law but she doesnt know what she wants. she gave me a brief description of the lady.. How can i translate this into a cake???

Birthday girl like:
family,wine,helping others, kids. she is a school counselor, has her masters degree and is a independent woman

How about a wine bottle with the label describing the birthday girl. Sweet, sparkling. vintage the year she was born, Helping Hand Vineyard, or Willing Volunteer Wineries, something like that. The name of the wine could be the happy birthday message. You could search wine labels for some more ideas.

What is the cake for? Sometimes I think it's just as nice to do a more generic cake than it is trying to incorporate a bunch of different things in to a cake.

I'd ask if the woman has any favorite colors, and if she more traditional, modern, whimsical and build a cake around that.

If I had to pick something from your SIL's description, then I'd say go for the wine themed. You could do a wine bottle or grapes on a cake.

Its a birthday cake for her sister in law.. i was actually thinking about trying the bath tub with the doll inside and some how put a qoute saying. "ur always helping people today ur day to relax, Happy Birthday" what do you guys think?