i did it!

i stayed up ALL NIGHT!!!

it wasn't so bad. I cleaned the bottom floor of the house, folded laundry, did the dishes... and made fresh Challah bread in preparation for V's surprise breakfast - French Toast!
Normally, i wouldn't go all out for French Toast (ok, maybe i would), but we didn't have ANY bread in the house. In fact, even if we did, it would have been super moldy. As a side note: i have discovered that store bought breads mold WAY faster than homemade. I wonder why that is??
The recipe i used was really nice and deliciously sweet, but not too sweet, if you know what i mean. I've never had Challah bread before so maybe they're all sweet.

Here it is before it went into the oven. I was concerned slightly that it wouldn't rise. Actually, that is almost always my concern when i make breads. I halved the original recipe, which still called for 6 cups of flour. After 6 cups, it was still more of a batter than a dough, so i added a 7th, rolled it out onto the counter and continued adding until it was the consistency that i thought it should be. I think i added 2 additional cups on top of the 7th... and it was still barely sticky if you smooshed it.
I decided to give it a try anyway.

And this is what i got!!! Amazingness! In fact, i could have left it in the oven for another 5-7 minutes, but i was too excited. I'm glad i greased the pan, because i needed a spatula to remove it even still! It came out tasting great and V loved his surprise.
After the Challah came out of the oven and before V actually got home from work (around 7:30am), i did what any normal person would do after staying up the whole night before...
I enjoyed the sunrise!

Okay, i'll admit it. I was more interested in being a macro junkie than anything else, but in my defense - you can't help but take in the beauty of your surroundings even/especially through a lens :)