diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 645627ecc..e56227538 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -7,25 +7,42 @@ module ApplicationHelper
     object.attributes.keys 
   end
 
-  def store_posts_from_xml(xml)
+  def parse_sender_id_from_xml(xml)
     doc = Nokogiri::XML(xml) { |cfg| cfg.noblanks }
-
-    #i need to check some sort of metadata field
-
-    doc.xpath("/XML/posts/post").each do |post| #this is the post wrapper
-      post.children.each do|type|  #now the text of post itself is the type 
-        #type object to xml is the the thing we want to from_xml
-        check_and_save_post(type)
-      end
-    end
+    doc.xpath("/XML/head/sender/email").text.to_s
+  end
+  
+  def parse_sender_object_from_xml(xml)
+    sender_id = parse_sender_id_from_xml(xml)
+    Person.where(:email => sender_id).first
   end
 
-  def check_and_save_post(type)
-    begin
-      object = type.name.camelize.constantize.from_xml type.to_s
-      object.save if object.is_a? Post
-    rescue
-      puts "Not of type post"
+  def parse_body_contents_from_xml(xml)
+    doc = Nokogiri::XML(xml) { |cfg| cfg.noblanks }
+    doc.xpath("/XML/posts/post")
+  end
+
+  def parse_posts_from_xml(xml)
+    posts = []
+    body = parse_body_contents_from_xml(xml)
+    body.children.each do |post|
+      begin
+        object = post.name.camelize.constantize.from_xml post.to_s
+        posts << object if object.is_a? Post
+      rescue
+        puts "Not a real type: #{post.to_s}"
+      end
+    end
+    posts
+  end
+
+  def store_posts_from_xml(xml)
+    sender_object = parse_sender_object_from_xml(xml)
+    posts = parse_posts_from_xml(xml)
+
+    posts.each do |p|
+      p.person = sender_object
+      p.save
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/app/models/friend.rb b/app/models/friend.rb
index 7f3463dd2..dba24e580 100644
--- a/app/models/friend.rb
+++ b/app/models/friend.rb
@@ -1,16 +1,10 @@
-class Friend
-  include Mongoid::Document
-  include ROXML
+class Friend < Person
 
-  xml_accessor :username
   xml_accessor :url
-  xml_accessor :real_name
 
-  field :username
   field :url
-  field :real_name
 
-  validates_presence_of :username, :url, :real_name
+  validates_presence_of :url
   validates_format_of :url, :with =>
     /^(http|https):\/\/[a-z0-9]+([\-\.]{1}[a-z0-9]+)*\.[a-z]{2,5}(([0-9]{1,5})?\/.*)?$/ix
     
diff --git a/app/models/person.rb b/app/models/person.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..399dbb394
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/person.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+class Person
+  include Mongoid::Document
+  include ROXML
+
+  xml_accessor :email
+  xml_accessor :real_name
+
+  field :email
+  field :real_name
+
+  has_many_related :posts
+
+  validates_presence_of :email, :real_name
+
+end
diff --git a/app/models/post.rb b/app/models/post.rb
index 04cccc690..9dc312309 100644
--- a/app/models/post.rb
+++ b/app/models/post.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ class Post
   field :source
   field :snippet
 
+
+  belongs_to_related :person
+  
+
   before_create :set_defaults
 
   after_save :send_to_view
@@ -50,6 +54,7 @@ class Post
     self.owner ||= user_email
     self.source ||= user_email
     self.snippet ||= user_email
+    self.person ||= User.first
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 45624f10e..a1ac4217f 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -1,13 +1,8 @@
-class User
-  include Mongoid::Document
+class User < Person
   
   # Include default devise modules. Others available are:
   # :token_authenticatable, :confirmable, :lockable and :timeoutable
   devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
          :recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable
   
-  field :real_name
-
-  validates_presence_of :real_name
-
 end
diff --git a/app/views/friends/index.html.haml b/app/views/friends/index.html.haml
index 044ade323..52abf1451 100644
--- a/app/views/friends/index.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/friends/index.html.haml
@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@
 
 %table
   %tr
-    %th username
+    %th real name
+    %th email
     %th url
   - for friend in @friends
     %tr
-      %td= friend.username
+      %td= friend.real_name
+      %td= friend.email
       %td= friend.url
       %td= link_to 'Show', friend
       %td= link_to 'Destroy', friend, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete
diff --git a/app/views/friends/new.html.haml b/app/views/friends/new.html.haml
index e9b1451be..161bd0250 100644
--- a/app/views/friends/new.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/friends/new.html.haml
@@ -3,9 +3,13 @@
 = form_for @friend do |f|
   = f.error_messages
   %p
-    = f.label :username
+    = f.label :real_name
     %br
-    = f.text_field :username
+    = f.text_field :real_name
+  %p
+    = f.label :email
+    %br
+    = f.text_field :email
   %p
     = f.label :url
     %br
diff --git a/app/views/friends/show.html.haml b/app/views/friends/show.html.haml
index 034eb23ce..fedc3e2a3 100644
--- a/app/views/friends/show.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/friends/show.html.haml
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 - title "Friend"
 
 %p
-  %strong Username:
-  = @friend.username
+  %strong Real Name:
+  = @friend.real_name
+%p
+  %strong Email:
+  = @friend.email
 %p
   %strong Url:
   = @friend.url
diff --git a/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml b/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
index bfe97c678..1484b2d9e 100644
--- a/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 %li.message{:class => ("mine" if mine?(post))}
   %span.from
-    = link_to post.owner, "#"
+    = link_to post.person.real_name, "#"
     = post.message
   %div.time
     = "#{time_ago_in_words(post.updated_at)} ago"
diff --git a/app/views/users/index.html.haml b/app/views/users/index.html.haml
index f0c2e7f87..6f210359c 100644
--- a/app/views/users/index.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/users/index.html.haml
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@
 
 %table
   %tr
-    %th User
+    %th Real Name
+    %th email
     %th Password
   - for user in @users
     %tr
+      %td= user.real_name
       %td= user.email
       %td= user.encrypted_password
diff --git a/lib/common.rb b/lib/common.rb
index 8e34b4591..8da6ddd31 100644
--- a/lib/common.rb
+++ b/lib/common.rb
@@ -36,11 +36,9 @@ module Diaspora
           "<head>
             <sender>
               <email>#{User.first.email}</email>
-              <url>#{User.first.email}</url>
             </sender>
           </head>"
         end
-
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/factories.rb b/spec/factories.rb
index 236e2984d..d995e1e88 100644
--- a/spec/factories.rb
+++ b/spec/factories.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 Factory.define :friend do |f|
   f.real_name 'John Doe'
-  f.username 'max'
+  f.email 'max@max.com'
   f.url  'http://max.com/'
 end
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/parser_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/parser_spec.rb
index 5d742239f..d1d991a8f 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/parser_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/parser_spec.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ include ApplicationHelper
 
 describe ApplicationHelper do
   before do
-    Factory.create(:user) 
+    @user = Factory.create(:user, :email => "bob@aol.com") 
+    @friend =Factory.create(:friend, :email => "bill@gates.com")
   end
 
   it "should store objects sent from xml" do
@@ -18,17 +19,25 @@ describe ApplicationHelper do
   end
 
   it 'should discard posts where it does not know the type' do
-    xml = "<XML><posts>
-      <post><status_message>\n  <message>Here is another message</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
-      <post><not_a_real_type></not_a_real_type></post>
-      <post><status_message>\n  <message>HEY DUDE</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
+    xml = "<XML>
+    <head>
+      <sender>
+        <email>#{User.first.email}</email>
+      </sender>
+    </head><posts>
+      <post><status_message>\n  <message>Here is another message</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post> <post><not_a_real_type></not_a_real_type></post> <post><status_message>\n  <message>HEY DUDE</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
       </posts></XML>"
     store_posts_from_xml(xml)
     Post.count.should == 2
   end
 
   it 'should discard types which are not of type post' do
-    xml = "<XML><posts>
+    xml = "<XML>
+    <head>
+      <sender>
+        <email>#{User.first.email}</email>
+      </sender>
+    </head><posts>
       <post><status_message>\n  <message>Here is another message</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
       <post><friend></friend></post>
       <post><status_message>\n  <message>HEY DUDE</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
@@ -38,15 +47,35 @@ describe ApplicationHelper do
   end
 
 
-  describe "parsing a sender" do 
-    it 'should be able to parse the sender of a collection' do
-    status_messages = []
-    10.times { status_messages << Factory.build(:status_message)}
-    xml = Post.build_xml_for(status_messages) 
+  describe "parsing compliant XML object" do 
+    before do
+      status_messages = []
+      10.times { status_messages << Factory.build(:status_message)}
+      @xml = Post.build_xml_for(status_messages) 
     end
 
-    it 'should be able to verify the sender as a friend' do 
-      pending 
+    it 'should be able to parse the sender\'s unique id' do
+      parse_sender_id_from_xml(@xml).should == @user.email
+    end
+
+    it 'should be able to retrieve the sender\'s local Person object' do
+      parse_sender_object_from_xml(@xml).should == @user
+    end
+
+    it 'should be able to parse the body\'s contents' do
+      body = parse_body_contents_from_xml(@xml).to_s
+      body.should_not include "<head>"
+      body.should_not include "</head>"
+      body.should_not include "<posts>"
+      body.should_not include "</posts>"
+      body.should include "<post>"
+      body.should include "</post>"
+    end
+
+    it 'should be able to extract all posts to an array' do
+      posts = parse_posts_from_xml(@xml)
+      posts.is_a?(Array).should be true
+      posts.count.should == 10
     end
 
   end
diff --git a/spec/lib/common_spec.rb b/spec/lib/common_spec.rb
index bc5bdf41d..dc99c3aeb 100644
--- a/spec/lib/common_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/common_spec.rb
@@ -29,11 +29,7 @@ describe Diaspora do
       end
 
       it "should provide the owner's email" do
-        @xml.should include "<email>bob@aol.com</email>"
-      end
-
-      it "should provide the owner's url" do
-        pending "user does not have url field"
+        @xml.should include "<email>#{User.first.email}</email>"
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/models/friend_spec.rb b/spec/models/friend_spec.rb
index 4ec6cf848..668e8e1f5 100644
--- a/spec/models/friend_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/friend_spec.rb
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ describe Friend do
    describe "XML" do
     before do
       @f = Factory.build(:friend)
-      @xml = "<friend>\n  <username>#{@f.username}</username>\n  <url>#{@f.url}</url>\n  <real_name>#{@f.real_name}</real_name>\n</friend>" 
+      @xml = "<friend>\n  <url>#{@f.url}</url>\n  <email>#{@f.email}</email>\n  <real_name>#{@f.real_name}</real_name>\n</friend>" 
     end
       
     it 'should serialize to XML' do
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ describe Friend do
   
     it 'should marshal serialized XML to object' do       
       parsed = Friend.from_xml(@xml)
-      parsed.username.should == @f.username
+      parsed.email.should == @f.email
       parsed.url.should == @f.url
       parsed.valid?.should be_true
     end
diff --git a/spec/models/post_spec.rb b/spec/models/post_spec.rb
index f8908e23e..61bd5efbc 100644
--- a/spec/models/post_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/post_spec.rb
@@ -5,14 +5,14 @@ describe Post do
     Factory.create(:user, :email => "bob@aol.com")
   end
 
-  describe 'requirements' do
-  end
-
   describe 'defaults' do
     before do
       WebSocket.stub!(:update_clients)
-      @post = Factory.create(:post, :owner => nil, :source => nil, :snippet => nil)
+      @post = Factory.create(:post, :person => nil, :owner => nil, :source => nil, :snippet => nil)
+    end
 
+    it "should associate the owner if none is present" do
+      @post.person.should == User.first
     end
 
     it "should add an owner if none is present" do