$productId = $_item->getProduct()->getId(); //for order emails

//$productId = $_item->getProductId(); //for invoice emails

$product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($productId);

$attributes = $product->getAttributes();

//Get a list of all PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES you want to show in this array...

$dispAttribs = array('hardrive', 'memory', 'processor'); 

foreach ($attributes as $attribute) {    

        $attributeCode = $attribute->getAttributeCode();

        if(!in_array($attributeCode, $dispAttribs)) continue;

        $label = $attribute->getFrontend()->getLabel($product);

        $value = $attribute->getFrontend()->getValue($product); 

        echo "<br /><strong>" . $label . ":</strong> " . $value;

}

$attribute = Mage::getModel('eav/config')->getAttribute('catalog_product', 'color'); //here, "color" is the attribute_code

$allOptions = $attribute->getSource()->getAllOptions(true, true);

foreach ($allOptions as $instance) {

    $myArray[$instance['value']] = $instance['label'];

}

Mage::log($myArray);