Oh, my stars and garters!

Do you like art? And artichoke dip?

Then you should probably come to this on Saturday!

7 p.m. at End of an Ear record store, 2209 South First Street in Austin.

Free beer, too; did I mention that?

Hope to see you!

Probably secretly my fault.

Willa is very good on car rides.

You know we've spent a lot of time trying to get Willa to calm down, sit down, be cool. At two years old, she is almost completely mature and is pretty well behaved--she doesn't bark very much or chew, bite, or beg at all--but she simply cannot control her exuberance when she makes her greetings. She turns into a panting brown supernova of excitement when she sees any dog, cat, or human, stranger or no. It's frankly kind of frightening if you're not expecting it, so with the help of our friends and neighbors, we keep working with her, hoping she'll calm down with time and practice.

The flip side is that here's how I wake up most mornings these days: A second after the dog wakes up and opens her eyes, they go wide with surprise--I guess even though she's been sleeping at my feet all night, she hasn't actually seen me in almost eight hours. Her tail starts thumping and she rapturously wiggles across the bed to try to lick my face off. I cover my head with my arm and fend her off with pillows and think fuck it, dog, don't ever change. 

Brainstorm

Hi! I am trying to think of food and drinks that start with "art." Like artichoke dip! Or artesian water. Or whatever!

You seem smart; can you help me?