Yesterday was picture day at Ian's day care. We were told to bring "fancy outfits" for the professional portraits. When I went home on Friday I really wasn't sure what we would put him in. Everything Ian wears is a hand me down or thrift store purchase and nothing at the moment fits the category of "fancy". If this was going to be a professional portrait, I wanted him to look sharp, or at least presentable. We briefly considered sending him in his Godzilla costume (99 cents at the thrift store!) but thought he might get too warm and the tail might be uncomfortable. Then I remembered his little blue jumper. My parents cleaned out their attic last fall and found a lot of old clothes up there. One item was an adorable baby blue set of overalls that my brother wore as a baby. They fit Ian perfectly. So he wore a 40-year-old outfit to school for his picture.

We can get emotionally attached to clothes. My mother is an extreme example, but she has saved tons of our clothes from our childhood. When I was digging through our own attic the other day, I found a box labeled "Rich shirts - SAVE" so we have our own memories squirreled away. I watched an Oprah episode the other day where she was cleaning out her closet and they said you should get rid of any clothing that has bad memories associated with it. I assume the opposite is also true, though, that we should keep ones that have good memories. How else would people have things to loan to brides as their "something borrowed"?

This brings me to our Living Out Loud topic for March. Tell us about one or more item of clothing (or jewelry or shoes) you have that has special meaning for you. Is it something that would be obviously sentimental to others like a wedding dress or would it be something that could be easily tossed like an old t-shirt? Where did it come from? Do you still wear it? Do you have any special plans for it (whether it be to fit back into it one day or to pass it on to a loved one)? Spring is coming and folks get the notion to weed out stuff from our closets and lives, but what are those things you'll be sure to keep?

Details include:

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

• Once you have completed your entry and posted it, please email me the link at genie [at] inabottle [dot] org. Remember, if you don't email me, I'm likely to forget to include you in the recap!

• 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, April 4th (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.

Last month I had several people ask if it was okay to participate. I can't stress enough that these projects are open to EVERYONE and it warms my heart with each entry I receive. So please, spread the good news about living out loud! I can't wait to see what you produce!