Before leaving for BlogHer I was trying to come up with a list of potential themes for the LOL project. I keep a list in my iPhone of that and lots of other brain chatter to try to organize it all. I had focused on the idea of talismen and what items are significant for people. I even read an actual paperback book (that doesn't have anything to do with babies or birthing) called The Things They Carried hoping it would give me ideas. (The book is decent, but only the first chapter talks about items soldiers carried.) And then I went to BlogHer and roomed with Laurie. She talked about the day she'd spent with Karen Woldrond and that she'd brought her treasures to share with Karen. As she carefully unwrapped these trinkets and set them on the nightstand between our beds, I realized that's what I was trying to describe. It's not talismen or good luck charms I wanted to discover, but I wanted to see the things that people treasure.

For the first time since this project started, I knew what the next month's theme would be before the current month was even over! I think this will be a tough one for me personally. I've tried very hard to not be emotionally attached to physical items. When Prince Siddhartha went on his six year path to understand suffering, he discovered that "unhappiness is the result of desire and attachment to material items," which let to him becoming the Buddha. But sometimes those physical items can remind us of larger parts of ourselves. Like so many things, balance is key.

For this month's project I want you to tell us about your little treasures. What are the items that if there were a fire and everything with a heartbeat was safe you would run back in to rescue? If you don't have any treasures now, did you have them when you were younger? Do you miss them or are they still with you? Why are they so important to you? Do you keep them somewhere in particular to ensure they're safe? Would other people recognize them as treasures or throw them away as junk?

Details include:

• Write something personal about yourself using the previous paragraphs as a guideline. Do not feel that you have to address each question above. The spirit of this project is to share something about yourself; I'm just throwing out ideas.

• It's by no means required, but it would be awesome to include photos of said treasures. Everybody loves photos!

• Once you have completed your entry and posted it, please email me the link at genie [at] inabottle [dot] org.

• If you do not have a blog to host your story, you can email me the story directly and I will add it here as a guest post giving you credit. The more the merrier!

• The due date for entries is Sunday, September 6th (the first Sunday of the month) at 5pm Eastern.

• Once I have collected all the entries, I will post a wrap-up to list them all and announce a winner. The winner will receive some sort of prize to be determined but all participants will receive fame and glory and a link on our Living Out Loud blogroll.

You all created our largest collection of participants last month, particularly with so many of you on the road for vacations and life in general! Go you! As always, I eagerly await to see what you produce this month.