Going the same approach as I do with Fallout 3...less is more. Getting mods that add the most, but with the least amount of compatibility issues and not needing a bunch of mods to do the same thing. On Fallout 3 I have around 40 esps, so I probably don't want to go above that with Skyrim. Those 40 esps, a big portion of that is from four gameplay mods merged to work together (which Skyrim is too new to do so, so I'll probably end up with a lot less mods for Skyrim). Fallout 3 has never been more stable ;p In fact, going less is more approach to FO3...for the first time since I've had it...I haven't had a single crash. I'll probably go for the mods that do similar things to the mods I have in FO3. Immersion (sound/environment/random animals roaming around as some examples... etc), gameplay, graphics, survival, new lands...and I think thats about it. I think in overall mods, not including the esps...its probably like 15 or something, very little. But the game for FO3 changed A LOT.

Skyrim Redone does what I'm looking for gameplay wise, so I'm good for that.

Mods I'm DEFINITELY using

Sounds of Skyrim (it isn't up on Nexus, but I backed up the files to my backup harddrive. I use it just fine and I don't like playing without it, too quiet. I might as well not even play Skyrim without the mod (l can't play FO3 without ambient mods (will one massive one) in fallout 3 either. But as a test, I did a 72 hour play through with all three SoS (clean install on my newly installed llaptop, with SoS only active and only one installed) and...as long as I didn't remove it, it played just fine)

Imps more complex needs
Frostfall
SkyUI
Akira Undone ENB
Moonpath to Elsweyr (never had a stable enough game to go here...sadly enough. Looks amazing though)
Deadly Dragons
Skyrim Redone
Skyrim HD 2k textures

Will probably get:
Skyrim Monster Mod (might have caused CTDs in certain locations (scripted wolves and other scripted npc/creature locations), but...I had too many mods anyway before. So, probably will get this)
SkyTEST (might have caused CTDs in certain locations (again, like above, scripted wolves and other scripted animal/npc/creature locations), like the above mod. But again, my mod list was too big before. Will probably get this)

Probably not:
WarZones (seems to cause a lot of CTDs for (some) people. Don't recall having any problems that could pinpoint it to being WarZones that I didn't have before getting it, and while adding a lot to Skyrim...I will probably skip this, for a more stable game.)

So outside of those above...any you recommend? That above is probably good enough, but I haven't played Skyrim in a while...so maybe there are new mods that are better and improve the ones above, or just new mods that add a lot to the game...be it gameplay, sound, survival or immersion or what not...