about

I am Aimee, an indie artist and author, a heavy reader, and am ever delving into new rabbit holes. Below, find some of my history, current direction, and book recommendations!

Last Updated: May 27, 2025.

aimee sits on a rock, next to a loch

Future ☠✍︎⚘

for all is well, all will be well;
my will will will it so!
what comes, what goes— sweet time will tell;
where willing? well I go!

Present ☕︎⚖︎⛅︎

My Year of the Witch is under way, and I am delving into all sorts of psychology while I recover from the health traumas of the last year. Body and mind, I am in deep need of rebuilding trust in myself, as such trauma causes easy dissociation. I am re-anchoring myself with good pacing, food, and people ♡

Past ⚒︎⚐⚕︎

I was raised in the rural rocky mountains of Colorado by hot air balloonists. I grew up reading, dancing, skiing, making art, and Working. I’ve done and been everything from balloon crew to cave guide, forest ranger to elementary school teacher, professional fairy princess to nematologist, water lab manager to cosplay woodworker.

I went to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, working as a resident assistant and soil lab scientist. My degree is in Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences, with concentration in Sustainable Food and Farming. I moved back to Colorado after graduation, where I started the Aimee Woodworks business, worked as a teacher, and managed a wastewater lab. I got married for the first time, bought my first home, and continued collecting jobs, as my single income had to cover everything. I have many fond memories hustling glitter as Aspen’s licensed street fairy princess.

After five years of adult life in my Rocky Mountain hometown, I traded rural for city and moved to Denver. My woodworking business continued there until the Summer of 2020, when The Unofficial Legend of Zelda Cookbook was finally published!

Around the same time, I found historical martial arts and picked up a longsword for the first time— now I perform my sword drills every morning!

Joining a local martial arts community helped me to recognize and escape an abusive ten year relationship. The divorce and isolation from friendships and community was harrowing, but the view from the other side, and the rest of my life, was worth the anguish. The three hundred hope-tempered poems borne of the experience are available in my book of poems, Merry Meet and Merry Part.

Amidst all of that, I suffered a quite egregious injury— I tore nearly everything in my knee. ACL, MCL, FCL, Meniscus— all badly torn or severed. IT band sprain, bone contusions. The surgery and recovery redefined my perception and scale of pain, but my broken lifestyle; the inability to be mobile and active in the ways I was used to, for years afterward, was quite depressing. I am still not fully recovered, but so thankful for the care and love of my cats and partner, who got me through it.

Over the last couple years (2023-2025), I have suffered from a slew of health emergencies, that I am still recovering from. I had a parotidectomy (a salivary gland tumor removed from behind my left ear), then appendicitis and surgery, then a spontaneous CSF Leak (incredibly rare, incredibly painful, took four bed-ridden months to diagnose and treat), followed by a spontaneous ectopic pregnancy, which resulted in miscarriage and an emergency surgery— praise be to Colorado’s health care, which allowed my doctors to act quickly to save my life. I’ve been diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Dysautonomia, and POTS, with some autoimmune involvement. These diagnoses explain so much; my inability to even think in temperatures above 75 degrees is solved! I have retroactively forgiven myself much, and am trying to break the habit of negative self-talk “buck up!” “everyone else is fine!” “what’s wrong with you!”.

I’m catching my breath, trying to find a ‘baseline’. My ‘new normal’ is continuously reset. Thankfully, I am surrounded by trusted friends and family, and am working hard to re-cultivate that mind-body connection where feelings of safety grow.

My injuries, surgeries, and recoveries over the last few years have taught me to be more aware and proactive regarding my health and fitness; to follow up and follow through even when doctors do not, and to listen carefully to my body. I am disabled! Yet, I am still able in many ways; focus on management, physical therapy, diet, and mental health do so much for my condition.

Speaking of mental mysteries! I am neurodivergent, with ADHD, OCD, and Dyslexia. Dyslexia is poorly understood, and does not always manifest as a reading issue; I had no problems learning to read, but still use a different ‘reading circuit’. I think in pictures! May I recommend “Proust and the Squid”, all about how we’ve hacked our brains into reading; something we never evolved to do. New self-understanding helps motivate my present self, while extending grace and forgiveness to my past selves and their struggles.

All of these breakthroughs and transformations come with their own social changes; I am still learning so much about friendship, what good friends feel like, and what honest connection can be. It is a common refrain amongst folks who are disabled by their health; if you step down, people step back. You’ll lose a lot of ‘friends’, and must let them go.

I found I was surrounded by un-reciprocating friends; I was always the inviter, the host, the planner— and when I had to step back, I was met with blame and abuse. I think it is easy for over-givers to get bit in the long run; when friends get used to giving 10% to your 90%, later when you have to seek balance and boundaries, when failing health means you cannot meet their previously set expectations, their entitlement to your time and help is revealed. It is heartbreaking, when you have given friends the benefit of the doubt for years, and when it comes down to it, they will not afford you the same. As soon as I recognized the signs; lying, throwing me under the bus, then love-bombing in a vicious cycle— I knew it was time to go.

In the future, I hope to build sustainable, reciprocal friendships; not ones that are reliant on my over giving. But; now that I am through, I can recognize how much easier my life is without the constant anxiety. It reflects my experience with divorce in 2020.

With everything, my heath and the world state at large (it’s currently May, 2025), I have stepped back from the Bicolline LARP, and ceded leadership of the Magpies Guild; I wish them all the best of luck and happiness! I do not anticipate my return, but will forever cherish the memories, mischief, and incredible friends I forged up there in the Canadian wilderness. Thank you!!!

My Works have been delayed; but I am getting back into the rhythms of self employment, publishing, print runs, with hope that my 2nd Cookbook will be in backers hands before the end of this year (2025). That said, good pacing and a focus on my health recovery is paramount to everything else! I am doing my best :)

Books 📚 📖 🖊

Reading is how I train myself to stay motivated and focused for long periods of time, which is so crucial for creative work. It also has the enjoyable side benefit of being entertaining and potentially educational!

Here is a link to my bookshop.org recommendations, a certified b-corp online book store, where your purchases can support local indie bookstores of your choice; a wonderful alternative to other online bookstores! May I also recommend Storygraph, an independently owned and run site where you can track your reading habit, books to read, and reviews; similar to Goodreads (you can even easily port your Goodreads info and libraries into it). Goodreads is owned by Amazon, and my preference is, surprise, toward local and independent.

Here are a few titles that have been particularly influential to me, you can pick up most at your local library.

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Stoicism and Philosophy — While I appreciate the sources, I do not appreciate the tech-bro (broicism?) reclamation of these surprisingly modern ancient texts to justify a better-than-thou self-absorption over communal duty. Please do not mistake my recommendations of these books to be an endorsement of that particular modern lifestyle— I do not believe stoicism should be used as just another productivity hack.

  • Letters from a Stoic, by Seneca, which you can read and download for free here. This took me over three years to fully read, but each letter is bite-sized, good to read one every few days or each week, to have a longer time to digest.

  • Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, some recommend this over Letters, but I prefer Letters as an introduction. As emperor of Rome, Marcus is a little crazy.

Personal and Writing —

  • Proust and the Squid, by Maryanne Wolf, if you enjoy reading, you must read this! What are the historical contexts around our reading, how do we do it, and how come some people read differently? We never evolved to read— so what are the effects of hacking our brains into it? This book was instrumental in my realization that I have always been dyslexic!

  • My Life in France, by Julia Child, this memoir recounts my idol, Julia Child’s, years in France while penning the cookbook that changed domestic cooking all over the world. I read this shortly after writing my own cookbook, and its little stories and sentiments are so apt and endearing.

  • A Memoir of My Former Self, by Hilary Mantel, I absolutely adore “on writing” style collections from authors; and this life’s work compilation of essays, articles, and musings by the author of Wolf Hall fills me up.

Training and Community —

  • Fear is the Mind Killer, by Kaja Sadowski, a must read for any HEMA and martial arts trainer or practitioner. Kaja goes heavily into how to train consensually violent arts for those who have experienced non-consensual violence, or have been societally trained out of ‘violent’ behaviors. Why do so many femmes and thems quit HEMA, and why do so many cis-white-het men stay? This book opens the doors wide and can serve as a manual to start a truly inclusive club that keeps everyone safe and growing; mentally and physically.

  • The Windsor Method, by Guy Windsor, Guy is a bit of a hema personality, but this solo manual goes deep into the kind of pre-hab training that can help prevent future injury. While sword fighting is more easily done with more than one person, this is a lovely guide to keep your spirits up if you have only your self.

  • Lost Connections, by Johann Hari, a story-driven dive into the catalysts behind depression, and how we can use that knowledge to build lifestyles that cushion us from the darkness.

Inspiration and Entertainment —