diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index 83445dbdefa272abd7d105b064042a7d3e101dd6..d1bc8a521a2a19f629b80f81dd9ab7aa4da7b88d 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   protect_from_forgery :except => :receive
   layout 'application'
-
+  before_filter :set_friends
+  
+  def set_friends
+    @friends = Friend.all
+  end
+  
 end
diff --git a/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb b/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
index 0c24a76bd3d11578b7da88ffd92e69e7b4d4a07e..00b1b8e1a379727c35cd3cdfb56c63b13be42810 100644
--- a/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ class StatusMessagesController < ApplicationController
   before_filter :authenticate_user!
 
   def index
-    @status_message = StatusMessage.new
     @status_messages = StatusMessage.sort(:created_at.desc).all
     
 
diff --git a/app/views/dashboard/index.html.haml b/app/views/dashboard/index.html.haml
index 3a892c6510c22474bf9db184bb49dbcd6cb7ea93..8d669a018c494391173a398fdcae0a033ed65669 100644
--- a/app/views/dashboard/index.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/dashboard/index.html.haml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 %h1 your network stream
+= render "status_messages/new_status_message"
 %ul#stream
   - for post in @posts
     = render type_partial(post), :post => post
diff --git a/app/views/friends/_sidebar.html.haml b/app/views/friends/_sidebar.html.haml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e7b34969fe4afaf1bb5f289bc39a0090f34865e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/friends/_sidebar.html.haml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+%h1 your friends
+%ul#stream
+  - for friend in @friends
+    = link_to friend.real_name, friend_path(friend)
+    %br
+  %br
+  %hr
+  = link_to "add a new friend", new_friend_path
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml b/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
index 5bf2d41a2a834ecb23dd17574bbe766c4e4e1b2a..2639d74cce37babd9a6e85a98125e96036b63995 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/layouts/application.html.haml
@@ -82,5 +82,8 @@
 
 
     #content
-      = yield
-      = render "posts/debug"
+      #main
+        = yield
+        = render "posts/debug"
+      #friends_list
+        = render 'friends/sidebar'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/status_messages/_new_status_message.haml b/app/views/status_messages/_new_status_message.haml
index 5e3ac866380e00dc8722aefc2e3b34c5daaf09eb..d8cb1d3284fb47dfd41ddf794c0fc422c9177ce0 100644
--- a/app/views/status_messages/_new_status_message.haml
+++ b/app/views/status_messages/_new_status_message.haml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-= form_for status_message, :remote => true do |f|
+= form_for StatusMessage.new, :remote => true do |f|
   = f.error_messages
   %p
     /= f.label :message
diff --git a/public/stylesheets/application.css b/public/stylesheets/application.css
index 9cfea05ebd535dadfae3311abbae313e4be2ed73..599de669cf39a35bb59749ed77671f1b604781e0 100644
--- a/public/stylesheets/application.css
+++ b/public/stylesheets/application.css
@@ -177,6 +177,18 @@ h3 {
   width: 100%;
   margin-bottom: 1em; }
 
+#main {
+  width: 70%;
+  min-width: 400px;
+  max-width: 700px;
+  float: left; }
+
+#friends_list {
+  float: right;
+  width: 20%;
+  min-width: 130px;
+  padding-left: 10%; }
+
 form {
   font-size: 130%;
   margin: 1em;
diff --git a/public/stylesheets/sass/application.sass b/public/stylesheets/sass/application.sass
index ff34a75659ce6f4da2b20b60872b94041dcca99b..9e13e0657a3fad58b6873d9b81a640665c44b6a4 100644
--- a/public/stylesheets/sass/application.sass
+++ b/public/stylesheets/sass/application.sass
@@ -214,7 +214,19 @@ h3
     :width 100%
     :margin
       :bottom 1em
-
+      
+#main
+  :width 70%
+  :min-width 400px
+  :max-width 700px
+  :float left
+  
+#friends_list
+  :float right
+  :width 20%
+  :min-width 130px
+  :padding-left 10%
+  
 form
   :font
     :size 130%
diff --git a/spec/controllers/dashboard_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
index b6ad08b93ce4922964e0e326f67573779c795bb2..f37e422d0e03e3ebe9fb4cd349b7af33c8d89094 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
@@ -3,10 +3,19 @@ require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper'
 describe DashboardController do
  render_views
   
-  it "index action should render index template" do
+  before do
     request.env['warden'] = mock_model(Warden, :authenticate? => @user, :authenticate! => @user)
+  end
+  
+  it "index action should render index template" do
     get :index
     response.should render_template(:index)
   end
+  
+  it "on index sets a friends variable" do
+    Factory.create :friend
+    get :index
+    assigns[:friends].should == Friend.all
+  end
 
 end