If you've been following along for my New York transition over the past year, you've probably noticed I have a major soft spot for the West Village. And I think it's something a lot of New Yorkers are guilty of -- we hand collect our neighborhood haunts, spots that never let us down, and we stick to them (all usually within a 5 minute walk from our stoop). The West Village certainly doesn't disappoint in this regard -- between The Spotted Pig, Fedora, Cafe Cluny, Cafe Minerva...the list goes on and on, each more charming than the last, making it doubly hard sometimes to venture out to different neighborhoods, or gasp, date someone who lives in a different borough than you.

But there's something else I think New  Yorkers crave. We pride ourselves in being New Yorkers. And that means discovering parts of this city that are always changing, evolving or perhaps even revisiting institutions that never let us down. It's the desire to experience this city that never stops challenging and surprising us. Sometimes we just need a reminder to get out and do it.

So naturally, when Gilt City approached me about test driving their "Get Out" campaign to encourage New Yorkers to do just that -- get out and enjoy everything their city has to offer -- I realized I could use a bit of a kick start out of my own routine. For fitness. For dining. For skipping out of town, when necessary.

Up first? I ventured out for a pilates class at BK Pilates in Flatiron. Now, granted, I love taking workout classes, but it takes me a great deal of encouragement to venture out and try a different type or course. You all know I love my high intensity training classes -- they're perfect for my marathon training and it's just the right amount of butt kicking that keeps me coming back for more each week. When it comes to pilates though, I think I've always been intimidated by the technique (and my lack of knowledge of it) and the machines involved (I mean, the reformer doesn't exactly look friendly). After last week's class though, I'm convinced it all boils down to the instructor and their patience. The folks at BK Pilates were exactly that -- the class was very intimate and adjusted to our individual abilities.

Later that week, I headed up to Blue Fin for dinner at the W Hotel (a perfect location if you happen to be hopping to a Broadway show afterward!).  The Summer at Sea menu didn't disappoint, our favorite being the tortellini, with a few glasses of rose, set under their signature string lights strung across the dining area. There's something about string lights that just scream summer, isn't there? But of course, the piece de resistance was, hands down, the bar -- fitting for a dirty martini and a tall, handsome date, no?

We rounded out the week with a weekend jaunt out to the wineries of Long Island, courtesy of Hampton Luxury Liner. As a former Bay Area and Napa/Sonoma enthusiast, this was a treat for me to finally check out some of the local vineyards in the area. We couldn't have lucked out with a more beautiful day, the kind begging for a road trip. We hopped aboard the Hampton Luxury Liner to visit three wineries, Duck Walk, Osprey and Baiting Hollow, and enjoyed a day of sipping some refreshing white wines and running around in the open air, ducking in between rows upon rows of sunkissed vineyards. I didn't realize how much I missed wine country back on the West Coast until we made it out there, but I'm so glad I finally got to see it for myself out East -- it was a lovely pocket that reminds me of my California home, one that I have a feeling I'll be heading out to often to visit.

Huge thanks to Gilt City for helping me mix up my routine last week -- it was a great reminder that New York City is always capable of surprising us. We just need to say, "I'm game."

If you're looking to shake up your routine as well, you can snag any of the above activities (and many more in your city) with an extra 20% off your first purchase with Gilt City experience. And if you end up at Blue Fin, let me know -- perhaps I'll meet you for a dirty martini.

This post was in collaboration with Gilt City. As always, all opinions and styling are my own. Thank you for supporting all This Time Tomorrow collaborations!

Photos by Alisha Siegel