I started a new save with the intent of beating my record for marrying one of the townspeople. I just gave Haley a bouquet last night, so I'm pretty sure I can sunflower my way into a wedding before the end of summer -- assuming I have money for a house upgrade, anyway. This is only the second time I've managed to dance with someone in the first year, and last time was also Haley -- though I was MUCH more successful this time. I'd gotten to 4 hearts several days before the dance, whereas last time I'd gotten CLOSE to 4 and asking her to dance kicked me up to 4.
I am ALSO playing with a self-imposed restriction in that I can't use a backpack until the end of year 1. So far I am managing well: I have one chest dedicated to tools, so as soon as I finish on the farm and want to go fishing, all of the farm stuff goes into the chest and I wander out armed with only a fishing pole.
So far, as of summer 18, I have gotten to level 100 of the mines; managed to knock out some bundles that have ALWAYS eluded me in the first year (gold-quality parsnips), crafted not a single sprinkler. I got one as a bundle award, but I'm having a strange issue of not running into quartz. I've got a lot of gold and iron bars at the ready, but not much quartz. May have to depend on eyeglasses for that: I want to put in full sprinklers at the start of fall.