If time and money allow...

Get a dog. Immediately. Besides the fact that they are man's best friend, they are super helpful for destressing and having a loving companion to look out for you. My dog Maddie has been with me since she was 3 months old and she is now 4 and a half. As a German Shepherd she's incredibly loyal, incredibly smart, and most importantly intuitive. Possibly the most interesting trait that dogs have is their ability to read facial expressions an emotion. Similar to humans, dogs follow a left to right clockwise pattern of reading faces. With that adaptation they are able to understand body language, emotion, and general vibe better than most other animals. Maddie has this ability in spades. Hard day at work. She knows. Long day at school she knows. Angry about a bad grade. Everything. Its been one of the central joys of my life to see the way her and I have grown together over the last 4 years from living in Boston to moving to the So Cal mountains and now in Santa Barbara. Granted she is a total spaz at times but anything the isn't a robot is a spaz from time to time. For adopting a dog, there are several shelters locally that have pups that are looking for good homes. I highly suggest at least visiting and seeing if a dog might be able to fit into your lifestyle. Don't wait. Go to a shelter and see if your new best friend is waiting for you to pick her up.

This is Maddie and I Fall semester of last year. She was the runt of her litter and is a tiny thing for a Shepherd but she's pretty spectacular regardless.

She isn't the biggest fan of getting baths but when we go to the beach and she gets sandy there is no alternative