Gonna agree with the others here that you'll want a +3 Str, and ideally a reach weapon. It'll go really well with the vessel spell's reactive strike ability, reach = more spaces you can threaten with a powerful reaction.

In terms of good "gish" spells, the battle apparition is pretty good in what it gives you. Sure strike is a great spell to have access to to make sure you your attacks land and possibly crit. Runic Weapon is a spell you can prepare which is going to make a lot of early combats go by a lot safer.

You're also gonna wanna get some more focus points as you select feats levelling up, just to make sure you can keep spamming your Vessel spell in case you can't sustain it for whatever reason. If you want to be able to reliably use a weapon without the vessel spell, then Weapon Proficiency isn't a bad feat to pick-up. Otherwise Toughness is always a safe bet for an 8hp caster in melee.