I'll start this article by admitting that I am a full-blown "chocoholic." I love the way eating a piece of chocolate makes me feel. It's so indulging, satisfying, and to me is the ultimate reward or excuse to instantly lift my spirits, calm my nerves, and just make me happy. This lead me to thinking about how few things in life are as good or better than chocolate.

Now, I would certainly have to rank being a Mom at the top of the list, but another big contender is Friendship. I think it is truly disappointing that we as women allow something as rewarding and bittersweet as friendship, to regularly take a back seat to our careers, husbands, children and busy demands of life. When you compare eating a piece of chocolate to spending time with friends, you will find a lot of commonalities...

Friendship and Chocolate are both actually healthy for us.
Friendship and Chocolate both make us feel good.
Friendship and Chocolate can be addictive and both make us eager for more.

Did you know that researchers and scientists have suggested that chocolate contains compounds that can help maintain a healthy heart, good circulation, and reduce blood clotting? And, a Nurses study at Harvard Medical school found that women with friends were less likely to develop physical impairments as they aged.

I know for me personally, whether it's a few minutes on the phone, a nice e-mail shared, lunch/dinner, or movie time spent with a friend, I am left feeling refreshed, happy, and ready to sing, "I feel like a Woman!" While I truly love being a Mom, I need friend time for me (even though half of it may be spent talking about the children anyway). It just feels great to spend time with my girlfriends to gab about everything under the sun, including love, relationships, finances, parenting, - and occasionally important topics like Brad Pitt!

Have you every noticed that when you do finally take the time to make that phone call to your friend, send that e-mail, or arrange that dinner or movie date, that you feel so good you automatically start planning for the next chat or get together. We do this because this needed interaction with our female friends just leaves us eager for more. This "feel good" addiction is similar to why we automatically eat more than one piece of chocolate in the box (and admit it, we rarely stop at just one).

I may be disqualified to judge what is truly better, friendships between women; or chocolate, since I admittedly confessed to being a "chocoholic". After all, some of you reading this article may not even like chocolate. In my opinion they are both equally fabulous. However, I do want to say if ever you needed to slow down, and purposely make time for something in your life amongst your daily juggling of activities, then please do so for friendships. Finding "friendship" time needs to be a priority even if it is once a week or once a month, to catch up with old friends and to make new ones. It's healthy, it makes you feel good, and you (we) deserve more of it.

Cheers to a happy, healthy, life shared with many great friends and of course a bit of chocolate!