diff --git a/spec/controllers/bookmarks_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/bookmarks_controller_spec.rb
index 61dd7ca20..32604ec0e 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/bookmarks_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/bookmarks_controller_spec.rb
@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@ describe BookmarksController do
   before do
     #TODO(dan) Mocking Warden; this is a temp fix
     request.env['warden'] = mock_model(Warden, :authenticate => @user, :authenticate! => @user)
-    User.create(:email => "bob@aol.com", :password => "secret")
-    Bookmark.create(:link => "http://www.yahooligans.com/")
+    @bob = Factory.create(:user)
+    @bookmark = Factory.build(:bookmark) 
+    @bookmark.save #TODO figure out why validations are not working
   end
 
+
   render_views
   
   it "index action should render index template" do
@@ -36,9 +38,10 @@ describe BookmarksController do
     
     #TODO(dan) look into why we need to create a new bookmark object here
     Bookmark.any_instance.stubs(:valid?).returns(true)
-    n = Bookmark.create(:link => "http://hotub.com")
-    puts n.inspect
-    put :update, :id => n.id
+    n = Factory.create(:bookmark, :link => "http://hotub.com")
+    n.save 
+    #puts n.inspect
+    put :update, :id => Bookmark.first.id
     response.should redirect_to(bookmark_url(assigns[:bookmark]))
   end
   
diff --git a/spec/controllers/friends_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/friends_controller_spec.rb
index 4637aa15b..4c51d7497 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/friends_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/friends_controller_spec.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ describe FriendsController do
   before do
     #TODO(dan) Mocking Warden; this is a temp fix
     request.env['warden'] = mock_model(Warden, :authenticate => @user, :authenticate! => @user)
-    Friend.create(:username => "max", :url => "http://max.com/")
+    @friend = Factory.build(:friend)
   end
   
   it "index action should render index template" do
@@ -15,18 +15,19 @@ describe FriendsController do
   end
   
   it "show action should render show template" do
+    @friend.save
     request.env['warden'].should_receive(:authenticate?).at_least(:once)
-    get :show, :id => Friend.first.id
+    get :show, :id => @friend.id
     response.should render_template(:show)
   end
   
   it "destroy action should destroy model and redirect to index action" do
-    friend = Friend.first
-    delete :destroy, :id => friend.id
+    @friend.save
+    delete :destroy, :id => @friend.id
     response.should redirect_to(friends_url)
-    Friend.first(:conditions => {:id => friend.id}).should be_nil
+    Friend.first(:conditions => {:id => @friend.id}).should be_nil
   end
-  
+   
   it "new action should render new template" do
     request.env['warden'].should_receive(:authenticate?).at_least(:once)
     get :new
diff --git a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
index 50cba6a45..516de5aab 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ describe StatusMessagesController do
   before do
     #TODO(dan) Mocking Warden; this is a temp fix
     request.env['warden'] = mock_model(Warden, :authenticate => @user, :authenticate! => @user)
-    User.create(:email => "bob@aol.com", :password => "secret")
-    StatusMessage.create(:message => "yodels.")
+    @bob = Factory.build(:user,:email => "bob@aol.com", :password => "secret")
+    @status_message = Factory.build(:status_message, :message => "yodels.")
+    @bob.save
+    @status_message.save #TODO for some reason it complains about validations even though they are valid fields
   end
 
   render_views
@@ -38,15 +40,14 @@ describe StatusMessagesController do
   end
   
   it "destroy action should destroy model and redirect to index action" do
-    status_message = StatusMessage.first
-    delete :destroy, :id => status_message.id
+    delete :destroy, :id => @status_message.id
     response.should redirect_to(status_messages_url)
-    StatusMessage.first(:conditions => {:id => status_message.id }).nil?.should be true
+    StatusMessage.first(:conditions => {:id => @status_message.id }).nil?.should be true
   end
   
   it "show action should render show template" do
     request.env['warden'].should_receive(:authenticate?).at_least(:once)
-    get :show, :id => StatusMessage.first.id
+    get :show, :id => @status_message.id
     response.should render_template(:show)
   end
   
diff --git a/spec/factories.rb b/spec/factories.rb
index ca8c54483..0ebbb93e2 100644
--- a/spec/factories.rb
+++ b/spec/factories.rb
@@ -15,3 +15,7 @@ Factory.define :user do |u|
   u.sequence(:email) {|n| "bob#{n}@aol.com"}
   u.password "bluepin7"
 end
+
+Factory.define :bookmark do |b|
+  b.link "http://www.yahooligans.com/"
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/bookmark_spec.rb b/spec/models/bookmark_spec.rb
index 309969bf0..ac65dc5e4 100644
--- a/spec/models/bookmark_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/bookmark_spec.rb
@@ -2,15 +2,16 @@ require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper'
 
 describe Bookmark do
   it "should have a link" do
-    bookmark = Bookmark.new
+    bookmark = Factory.build(:bookmark, :link => nil)
     bookmark.valid?.should be false
     bookmark.link = "http://angjoo.com/"
     bookmark.valid?.should be true
   end
   
   it "should add an owner if none is present" do
-    User.create(:email => "bob@aol.com", :password => "big bux")
-    n = Bookmark.create(:link => "http://www.validurl.com/")
-    n.owner.should == "bob@aol.com"
+    #User.create(:email => "bob@aol.com", :password => "big bux")
+    Factory.create(:user, :email => "bob@aol.com")
+    n = Factory.create(:bookmark)
+    n.owner.should == "bob@aol.com" 
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end