GOLD FOILED AGAIN!

I used to hate chocolate. By that I mean I used to despise and become downright disgusted by anything chocolate, especially things like desserts or drinks that are meant to be made more "decadent" simply by adding chocolate. Also there is that whole "women love chocolate" stereotype that I'd grown sick of. (Remember those JCPenney sales they had with the free piece of chocolate as an incentive? They would put certain sales percentages inside the wrapper.) Women in commercials, in magazines, in advertisements--all of them being enticed in some fashion by a chocolate treat. I could also say it's because the chocolate I grew up with was mostly of the Hershey variety, which is very sweet and milky and possibly full of nuts, rice crisp, nougat, or peanut butter. Needless to say, chocolate wasn't interesting to me. Vanilla ice cream tasted better (not overpowering) and Warheads were much more exciting than a Hershey bar. It wasn't until these past two months that I've developed a strange dependency on chocolate. I started reading websites like this one and another interesting web article dedicated to directly linking chocolate's influence to female sexuality. While all these supposed psychological or physical affects of chocolate are fascinating (as is any substance's affect on the body, in my opinion), I'd rather just enjoy the chocolate itself without putting much thought into it (I prefer eating pure chocolate by itself, none of that chocolate-almond-caramel cake crap). Am I addicted? No. I think it started when I bought some chocolate crisps from the sugar-free/flour-free portion of Central Market's bakery and ate them with some tangerine white tea I picked up on the same day. It was a random afternoon snack that proved a mighty combination: Who would have thought tea and chocolate could taste so good together? So I a few weeks later, I noticed a Ghiradelli dark chocolate bar stuffed into the door of the household pantry. I took it with me to work and ate a few bites of it in between sips of tea. (The bar was a gift to my dad from one of his coworkers and dad threw a fit when he found out I'd sampled it; never mind the fact that he doesn't like candy and chose to put it in the free-for-all portion of the pantry. I bought another one later to replace it.) This chocolate bar lasted me for several days as I savored every melting bite during the late afternoon. Once the dark chocolate was gone, I bought a slab of the Ritter Sport milk chocolate with coconut in the center. It was about 9:45 at night, I hadn't eaten since 11AM, and Ryan and I were out browsing electronics at Fry's. So I took the bar with me, telling myself I'd just have a few pieces of it to tide me over until dinner. The whole thing was gone within an hour. I certainly wasn't hungry anymore and felt kind of sick at myself for unwittingly inhaling a candy bar (which I never eat!).

So fast forward a week and a half and I've just left a dinner of basil chicken with spinich at Friday's. I have to open tomorrow morning, which means I have to get up by about 4:30 and I'm thinking about just relaxing for a little bit before heading to bed. All of a sudden my body says, "Hey, how about some chocolate?" Maybe it was my brain and not my body. I don't know. I was simply on my way home listening to some jazz with the windows down and already I was subconsciously plotting how I could get my hands on some decent chocolate to have with my red tea before bedtime. So I buy a rip-off of a chocolate sampler at my Starbucks since my tea was in my work locker anyway and stuffed it into my bag, already giddy about getting it home and indulging. Do I think I'm addicted to chocolate? No. Today was the best weather I can remember in a very long time--sunny, breezy, and gorgeous--and not only did I work all day, I also worked out and then had a nice dinner with Ryan's family. I felt accomplished. I felt like it was safe to sit down and relax with chocolate melting on my tongue. Four pieces later, I'm satisfied. I guess according to the surveys and studies, I'm either an chocolate addict, a very healthy female, or someone with distinguished tastes. Or all three.


Edit: I challenge you to find more cheesy away messages than the ones my coworker puts up.

i'm curled up in my bed dreaming about the most fabulous man in this world!!