JARDINE LIBAIRE

WHO: Austin-based author whose new book, White Fur, was released May 30 by Penguin Random House to rave reviews. WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: “I love the Original Pinballz Arcade (8940 Research Blvd, 512-420-8458; pinballzarcade.com). Who can resist a Friday night playing a '94 Guns N' Roses pinball machine, winning stuffed animals, and losing all track of time like I was 15 again? Not me.” DIVINE DECADENCE: “The restaurant/bar at Justine’s Brasserie (4710 E. Fifth St., 512-385-2900; justines1937.com) is no secret, but the parties there have an underground, upside-down beauty I love—from Bushwick Bill rapping in the garden to a punk Bastille Day to a snow machine for a Russian forest made of recycled Christmas trees. Follow Justine’s on Facebook for party announcements.” DOLLED UP: “Where can you get necessities like blood-orange perfume, rainbow lashes, and sequined high-waisted shorts? At the magical Coco Coquette (2109 E. Cesar Chavez St., 512344-9173; coco-coquette.com) boutique on the East Side, which correctly bills itself as the love child of Marie Antoinette and John Waters.” BACK TO NATURE: “Last week at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (4801 La Crosse Ave., 512-232-0100; wildflower.org), I watched a caterpillar spin its first silk, starting a cocoon that would shelter its metamorphosis into a silk moth. These gardens help me get reoriented to life.”