diff --git a/packages/api/middleware/auth.ts b/packages/api/middleware/auth.ts
index 2fce164..68a6dfc 100644
--- a/packages/api/middleware/auth.ts
+++ b/packages/api/middleware/auth.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ export const authCheck = async (
     const email = ticket.getPayload()?.email;
 
     // used in subsequent handlers
+
+    // todo: have to get our database id for the user instead of google's id
     res.locals.userId = userId;
     res.locals.email = email;
 
diff --git a/packages/api/routes/contacts.ts b/packages/api/routes/contacts.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe735cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/api/routes/contacts.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import express, { Application, Request, Response } from "express";
+
+import { ObjectId } from "mongodb";
+import Relationship from "@nirvana/core/models/relationship.model";
+import { authCheck } from "../middleware/auth";
+import { collections } from "../services/database.service";
+
+export default function getContactsRoutes() {
+  const router = express.Router();
+
+  router.use(express.json());
+
+  // see all of my contacts
+  router.get("/", authCheck, getAllContacts);
+
+  // send a friend request
+  router.post("/:userId", authCheck, addContact);
+
+  return router;
+}
+
+async function getAllContacts(req: Request, res: Response) {
+  try {
+    const { email } = res.locals;
+
+    if (!email) {
+      res.status(400).send("No email of user!");
+      return;
+    }
+
+    // todo: fetch all of my contacts
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.log(error);
+    res.status(500).send(`something went wrong`);
+  }
+}
+
+async function addContact(req: Request, res: Response) {
+  try {
+    // get the userId of the person to add as a friend/contact
+    const { userId } = req.params;
+
+    if (!userId) {
+      res.status(400).send("No contact id provided!");
+      return;
+    }
+
+    // validations
+    // make sure that we are not adding a friend that already has added us
+
+    // add a many to many table of friends
+    // const newRelationship = new Relationship();
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.log(error);
+    res.status(500).send(`something went wrong`);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/api/routes/user.ts b/packages/api/routes/user.ts
index e8123aa..c0dd689 100644
--- a/packages/api/routes/user.ts
+++ b/packages/api/routes/user.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import { GoogleUserInfo, User } from "@nirvana/core/models";
 import express, { Application, Request, Response } from "express";
 
+import { ObjectID } from "bson";
 import { ObjectId } from "mongodb";
 import { UserService } from "../services/user.service";
+import { UserStatus } from "../../core/models/user.model";
 import { authCheck } from "../middleware/auth";
 import { collections } from "../services/database.service";
 
@@ -14,8 +16,6 @@ export default function getUserRoutes() {
   // get user details based on id token
   router.get("/", authCheck, getUserDetails);
 
-  router.post("/create", createUser);
-
   return router;
 }
 
@@ -25,15 +25,18 @@ export default function getUserRoutes() {
  */
 async function getUserDetails(req: Request, res: Response) {
   const email: string = res.locals.email;
+  const userId: string = res.locals.userId;
 
   // passed in accesstoken no matter what
   const { access_token } = req.query;
 
-  console.log(`getting data for ${email}`);
+  console.log(res.locals);
+
+  console.log(`getting data for ${userId}`);
 
   try {
     // return user details if it passed auth middleware
-    const user = await UserService.getUserByEmail(email);
+    const user = await UserService.getUserById(userId);
 
     // if no user found, then go ahead and create user
     if (!user) {
@@ -50,18 +53,21 @@ async function getUserDetails(req: Request, res: Response) {
 
       // create initial user model object
       const newUser = new User(
+        userId,
         userInfo.email,
         userInfo.verifiedEmail,
         userInfo.name,
         userInfo.given_name,
         userInfo.family_name,
         userInfo.picture,
-        userInfo.locale
+        userInfo.locale,
+        new Date(),
+        UserStatus.ONLINE,
+        new Date()
       );
 
       // create user if not exists
       const insertResult = await UserService.createUserIfNotExists(newUser);
-      newUser._id = insertResult?.insertedId;
 
       insertResult
         ? res.status(200).send(newUser)
@@ -72,48 +78,8 @@ async function getUserDetails(req: Request, res: Response) {
 
     // otherwise, just return the user details
     res.status(200).send(user);
-  } catch (error) {
-    res
-      .status(404)
-      .send(`unable to find a matching document with email: ${email}`);
-  }
-}
-
-/** DEPRECATED...USING THE SAME SIGN IN ROUTE TO CREATE */
-async function createUser(req: Request, res: Response) {
-  try {
-    const { access_token } = req.query;
-
-    if (!access_token) {
-      res.status(400).send("No access token provided");
-      return;
-    }
-
-    // get google user info from access token
-    const userInfo: GoogleUserInfo =
-      await UserService.getGoogleUserInfoWithAccessToken(
-        access_token as string
-      );
-
-    // create initial user model object
-    const newUser = new User(
-      userInfo.email,
-      userInfo.verifiedEmail,
-      userInfo.name,
-      userInfo.given_name,
-      userInfo.family_name,
-      userInfo.picture,
-      userInfo.locale
-    );
-
-    // create user if not exists
-    const insertResult = await UserService.createUserIfNotExists(newUser);
-
-    insertResult
-      ? res.status(200).send("User created")
-      : res.status(500).send("Failed to create account, already exists");
   } catch (error) {
     console.log(error);
-    res.status(500).send("Problem in creating user");
+    res.status(500).send(`Problem with signing user up or logging in`);
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/api/services/user.service.ts b/packages/api/services/user.service.ts
index 747280c..e153028 100644
--- a/packages/api/services/user.service.ts
+++ b/packages/api/services/user.service.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { collections } from "./database.service";
 
 export class UserService {
   static async getUserById(userId: string) {
-    const query = { _id: new ObjectId(userId) };
+    const query = { googleId: userId };
 
     const res = await collections.users?.findOne(query);
 
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ export class UserService {
   }
 
   static async createUserIfNotExists(newUser: User) {
-    const exists = (await collections.users?.findOne({ email: newUser.email }))
+    const exists = (await collections.users?.findOne({ id: newUser.googleId }))
       ?._id;
 
     if (!exists) {
diff --git a/packages/core/models/relationship.model.ts b/packages/core/models/relationship.model.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8864359
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/models/relationship.model.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import { ObjectId } from "mongodb";
+
+// some sort of contact or friend model
+
+export default class Relationship {
+  constructor(
+    public senderUserId: string,
+    public receiverUserId: string,
+    public state: RelationshipState,
+    public createdDate: Date = new Date(),
+    public lastUpdatedDate: Date = new Date(),
+
+    public _id: ObjectId = new ObjectId()
+  ) {}
+}
+
+export enum RelationshipState {
+  PENDING = "PENDING",
+  ACTIVE = "ACTIVE",
+  BLOCKED = "BLOCKED",
+}
diff --git a/packages/core/models/user.model.ts b/packages/core/models/user.model.ts
index 1dc30fb..c8f4631 100644
--- a/packages/core/models/user.model.ts
+++ b/packages/core/models/user.model.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { ObjectId } from "mongodb";
 
 export class User {
   constructor(
+    public googleId: string, // our Google id that every google user has unique that we are going to use for now
     public email: string,
     public verifiedEmail: boolean,
     public name: string,
@@ -9,6 +10,18 @@ export class User {
     public family_name: string,
     public picture: string,
     public locale: string,
-    public _id?: ObjectId // additional properties specific to our users collection
+
+    // additional properties specific to our users collection
+
+    public createdDate: Date,
+    public status: UserStatus,
+    public lastUpdatedDate?: Date,
+    public _id?: ObjectId
   ) {}
 }
+
+export enum UserStatus {
+  ONLINE = "ONLINE",
+  OFFLINE = "OFFLINE",
+  FLOW_STATE = "FLOW_STATE",
+}
diff --git a/packages/desktop/src/components/ProtectedRoute/index.tsx b/packages/desktop/src/components/ProtectedRoute/index.tsx
index 97c94a8..9881511 100644
--- a/packages/desktop/src/components/ProtectedRoute/index.tsx
+++ b/packages/desktop/src/components/ProtectedRoute/index.tsx
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ export default function ProtectedRoute({
   children?: React.ReactNode;
 }) {
   const { data, isLoading, isError, refetch } = useGetUserDetails();
-  console.log(data);
 
   if (isLoading)
     return (
diff --git a/packages/desktop/src/index.html b/packages/desktop/src/index.html
index 370a0f9..535f501 100644
--- a/packages/desktop/src/index.html
+++ b/packages/desktop/src/index.html
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <html>
   <head>
     <meta charset="UTF-8" />
-    <title>Hello World!</title>
+    <title>Nirvana</title>
   </head>
   <body>
     <div id="root"></div>
diff --git a/packages/desktop/src/pages/Login/index.tsx b/packages/desktop/src/pages/Login/index.tsx
index c135217..2bc03a7 100644
--- a/packages/desktop/src/pages/Login/index.tsx
+++ b/packages/desktop/src/pages/Login/index.tsx
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ export default function Login({ onReady }: { onReady: Function }) {
   };
 
   useEffect(() => {
+    // hack for now log out in this case
+    logOut();
+
     // see if we have tokens in localstorage in which case we can continue on
     window.electronAPI.store
       .get(STORE_ITEMS.AUTH_TOKENS)