diff --git a/nirvana-ios/Services/AuthSessionStore.swift b/nirvana-ios/Services/AuthSessionStore.swift
index 6e21284..b7b91c0 100644
--- a/nirvana-ios/Services/AuthSessionStore.swift
+++ b/nirvana-ios/Services/AuthSessionStore.swift
@@ -373,6 +373,10 @@ extension AuthSessionStore {
                     }                
                 }
         
+        // listener for people who have me as an active friend might make inbox easier
+        // where friendId = me, isActive = true...this way it's a published property that can update the ui
+        // as inbox users is only being called on load
+        
         self.listenersActive = true
         
         // adding listeners to be able to deinit later
@@ -398,6 +402,8 @@ extension AuthSessionStore {
 // transforming data to make it more valuable
 extension AuthSessionStore {
     func getActiveFriendIds() -> [String] {
+        // TODO: order friends by user friend creation date as dictionaries don't have any inherent order
+        // they order randomly through hash value creation
         var activeFriendIds: [String] = []
         
         for (friendId, userFriend) in self.userFriendsDict {
diff --git a/nirvana-ios/Views/InnerCircle/CircleGridView.swift b/nirvana-ios/Views/InnerCircle/CircleGridView.swift
index 0f0de2f..cffd5f1 100644
--- a/nirvana-ios/Views/InnerCircle/CircleGridView.swift
+++ b/nirvana-ios/Views/InnerCircle/CircleGridView.swift
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ struct CircleGridView: View {
                     // active friends
                     ForEach(0..<activeFriends.count, id: \.self) {value in
                         let friendId = activeFriends[value]
+                        
                         GeometryReader {gridProxy in
                             let scale = getScale(proxy: gridProxy, itemNumber: value, userId: friendId)
                             
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ struct CircleGridView: View {
                     // inbox users
                     ForEach(0..<inboxUsers.count, id: \.self) {inboxValue in
                         let inboxUserId = inboxUsers[inboxValue]
-                        let adjustedValue = inboxValue + activeFriends.count // IMPORTANT: accounting for the active friends iterations
+                        let adjustedValue = inboxValue + self.authSessionStore.getActiveFriendIds().count // IMPORTANT: accounting for the active friends iterations
                         GeometryReader {gridProxy in
                             let scale = getScale(proxy: gridProxy, itemNumber: adjustedValue, userId: inboxUserId) * 0.75 // don't want inbox to match size of active
                             
@@ -211,7 +212,7 @@ struct CircleGridView: View {
                     }
                     
                     // stale state for adding a contact
-                    let staleAdjustedValue = activeFriends.count + inboxUsers.count
+                    let staleAdjustedValue = self.authSessionStore.getActiveFriendIds().count + self.authSessionStore.getInboxUsersIds().count
                     GeometryReader {gridProxy in
                         let scale = getScale(proxy: gridProxy, itemNumber: staleAdjustedValue, userId: nil) * 0.75 // adjusting size as stale states should be the smallest
                         Button {
diff --git a/nirvana-ios/Views/InnerCircle/InnerCircleView.swift b/nirvana-ios/Views/InnerCircle/InnerCircleView.swift
index c2982d9..c3d94e2 100644
--- a/nirvana-ios/Views/InnerCircle/InnerCircleView.swift
+++ b/nirvana-ios/Views/InnerCircle/InnerCircleView.swift
@@ -84,14 +84,7 @@ struct InnerCircleView: View {
                         
                 }
                 .padding()
-            } else {
-                Image("undraw_fall_is_coming_yl-0-x")
-                    .renderingMode(.original)
-                    .resizable()
-                    .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fit)
-                    .blur(radius: 20)
-                
-                
+            } else {                 
                 // content
                 CircleGridView(selectedFriendIndex: self.$selectedFriendIndex)
                     .environmentObject(innerCircleVM)