I stealthed it. Everytime I entered a dungeon I would sneak and use my bow. Both those skills can be hard to max out if you don't use them religously but now I can pretty much pick off enemies without ever being detected. Pickpocketing is a bit lame....the only thing it's really useful for is when you buy items or skills off people you can pickpocket the money right back....but you have to be quite a high level to do it.
The area I neglected was magic. I rarely used illusion and alteration. At the moment I am trying to build them up but casting Muffle and Stoneskin. whenever I am running across the wilderness I just continuously cast those and gradually the skills are increasing. I should have done it from the beginning.
I have maxed out my blacksmithing perk tree and I am working on the enchanting. The best weapons and armours in the game are the ones you create. It took me a while and I must have made hundreds of iron daggers but I finally unlocked the Dragon Armour.
Tip: Once you can do it enchant a ring, boots, helmet/circlet and necklace with fire and frost resistances. If you have a good enchanting skill you can essentially give yourself 100%+ resistance to these elements which means the big bad dragons can barely touch you.