I have been whining to people for a while about how I needed a better blender. Mine is an ancient thing with dulled blades, probably purchased at Target for $30 back when I was outfitting my first apartment. It can blend, sort of, but margaritas wind up with little chunks of ice in them, and pureed soups don't turn out smooth. I have been unsatisfied for a while and telling myself that one of these days I was going to buy a professional-quality blender that could make perfect soups, smoothies, and margaritas, and I was going to spend whatever it took to get that level of quality.

So now I have it! A Vitamix. It's a $500 blender, and you know what? I can't truly judge it based on a single day of use, but based on what I've seen so far, I think it was worth that hefty price tag.

What do you get in a blender when you spend $500?

* POWER. The thing can blend anything ultra-smooth. The smoothies I've made with it so far are amazing.

* Quality construction. Nothing about this blender says "cheap." All the pieces are heavy and durable.

* Ease of cleaning. To clean my old blender, I had to disassemble it and hand-wash everything, including the blades. It was so much hassle it just wasn't worth using, and sometimes I would put it back together wrong, and the next time I used it, food would splatter everywhere. This blender you clean by filling it half full with water, adding a drop or two of dishwashing detergent, and blending for a short while. Then you rinse it out. It takes a couple of minutes, tops. So quick I can easily make daily breakfast smoothies. This blender is not supposed to be disassembled ever. Yay for that. I don't want to disassemble it!

* Supposedly, long lifetime. It has a 7-year warranty, and people say the blades stay sharp for a very long time. Vitamix says that Jamba Juice uses these blenders in their stores. The blenders are designed for heavy, long-term use.

So far I've only made smoothies. They turned out wonderful, and they were very easy to make and clean up after. I'm hoping to make smoothies every morning for breakfast. Tomorrow I'll be making a pureed soup.

Supposedly this thing can turn out homemade ice cream in minutes--the kids are eager for me to try that one!