diff --git a/spec/components/email/styles_spec.rb b/spec/components/email/styles_spec.rb
index 91b3cdbe5b4..846944a51bb 100644
--- a/spec/components/email/styles_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/email/styles_spec.rb
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ describe Email::Styles do
     end
 
     # Pending due to email effort @coding-horror made in d2fb2bc4c
-    pending "adds a max-width to images" do
+    skip "adds a max-width to images" do
       frag = basic_fragment("<img src='gigantic.jpg'>")
       expect(frag.at("img")["style"]).to match("max-width")
     end
diff --git a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
index 5125433f33d..0a6857d69c3 100644
--- a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ describe PrettyText do
     end
 
     # see: https://github.com/sparklemotion/nokogiri/issues/1173
-    pending 'allows html entities correctly' do
+    skip 'allows html entities correctly' do
       PrettyText.cook("&aleph;&pound;&#162;").should == "<p>&aleph;&pound;&#162;</p>"
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/mailers/user_notifications_spec.rb b/spec/mailers/user_notifications_spec.rb
index c166c758404..cdde34812ed 100644
--- a/spec/mailers/user_notifications_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/mailers/user_notifications_spec.rb
@@ -25,46 +25,56 @@ describe UserNotifications do
   end
 
   describe ".signup" do
+
     subject { UserNotifications.signup(user) }
 
-    its(:to) { should == [user.email] }
-    its(:subject) { should be_present }
-    its(:from) { should == [SiteSetting.notification_email] }
-    its(:body) { should be_present }
+    it "works" do
+      subject.to.should == [user.email]
+      subject.subject.should be_present
+      subject.from.should == [SiteSetting.notification_email]
+      subject.body.should be_present
+    end
+
   end
 
   describe ".forgot_password" do
+
     subject { UserNotifications.forgot_password(user) }
 
-    its(:to) { should == [user.email] }
-    its(:subject) { should be_present }
-    its(:from) { should == [SiteSetting.notification_email] }
-    its(:body) { should be_present }
+    it "works" do
+      subject.to.should == [user.email]
+      subject.subject.should be_present
+      subject.from.should == [SiteSetting.notification_email]
+      subject.body.should be_present
+    end
+
   end
 
   describe '.digest' do
+
     subject { UserNotifications.digest(user) }
 
     context "without new topics" do
-      its(:to) { should be_blank }
+
+      it "doesn't send the email" do
+        subject.to.should be_blank
+      end
+
     end
 
     context "with new topics" do
+
       before do
         Topic.expects(:for_digest).returns([Fabricate(:topic, user: Fabricate(:coding_horror))])
         Topic.expects(:new_since_last_seen).returns(Topic.none)
       end
 
-      its(:to) { should == [user.email] }
-      its(:subject) { should be_present }
-      its(:from) { should == [SiteSetting.notification_email] }
-
-      it 'should have a html body' do
-        subject.html_part.body.to_s.should be_present
-      end
-
-      it 'should have a text body' do
+      it "works" do
+        subject.to.should == [user.email]
+        subject.subject.should be_present
+        subject.from.should == [SiteSetting.notification_email]
         subject.html_part.body.to_s.should be_present
+        subject.text_part.body.to_s.should be_present
       end
 
     end
diff --git a/spec/mailers/version_mailer_spec.rb b/spec/mailers/version_mailer_spec.rb
index eb0df5fbecf..0a98e9de6da 100644
--- a/spec/mailers/version_mailer_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/mailers/version_mailer_spec.rb
@@ -5,14 +5,21 @@ describe VersionMailer do
 
   context 'contact_email is blank' do
     before { SiteSetting.stubs(:contact_email).returns('') }
-    its(:to) { should be_blank }
+
+    it "doesn't send the email" do
+      subject.to.should be_blank
+    end
   end
 
   context 'contact_email is set' do
     before { SiteSetting.stubs(:contact_email).returns('me@example.com') }
-    its(:to) { should == ['me@example.com'] }
-    its(:subject) { should be_present }
-    its(:from) { should == [SiteSetting.notification_email] }
-    its(:body) { should be_present }
+
+    it "works" do
+      subject.to.should == ['me@example.com']
+      subject.subject.should be_present
+      subject.from.should == [SiteSetting.notification_email]
+      subject.body.should be_present
+    end
+
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/models/invite_spec.rb b/spec/models/invite_spec.rb
index 0e146444f16..db3c0ee1acb 100644
--- a/spec/models/invite_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/invite_spec.rb
@@ -40,8 +40,11 @@ describe Invite do
 
     context 'saved' do
       subject { Fabricate(:invite) }
-      its(:invite_key) { should be_present }
-      its(:email_already_exists) { should == false }
+
+      it "works" do
+        subject.invite_key.should be_present
+        subject.email_already_exists.should == false
+      end
 
       it 'should store a lower case version of the email' do
         subject.email.should == iceking
diff --git a/spec/models/user_spec.rb b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
index 08281e04a6f..8cf56a5bd2b 100644
--- a/spec/models/user_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
@@ -206,10 +206,13 @@ describe User do
     it { should be_valid }
     it { should_not be_admin }
     it { should_not be_approved }
-    its(:approved_at) { should be_blank }
-    its(:approved_by_id) { should be_blank }
-    its(:email_private_messages) { should == true }
-    its(:email_direct ) { should == true }
+
+    it "is properly initialized" do
+      subject.approved_at.should be_blank
+      subject.approved_by_id.should be_blank
+      subject.email_private_messages.should == true
+      subject.email_direct.should == true
+    end
 
     context 'digest emails' do
       it 'defaults to digests every week' do
@@ -230,11 +233,11 @@ describe User do
     end
 
     context 'after_save' do
-      before do
-        subject.save
-      end
+      before { subject.save }
 
-      its(:email_tokens) { should be_present }
+      it "has an email token" do
+        subject.email_tokens.should be_present
+      end
     end
 
     it "downcases email addresses" do