<p>Good luck and keep us posted.</p>
<p>Good luck momofwildchild! Sounds like BIG event. You will be able to get some specific Nashville info on the Fodors.com talk forum. Have a great time.</p>
<p>MoWC:</p>
<p>I admire your can do spirit. Good luck with the move!</p>
<p>Much good luck to you on your big move to Nashville. Sounds like you have an exciting time ahead of you!!</p>
<p>I live in Franklin, which is about 30 minutes outside of Nashville. Nashville is a beautiful, fun place to live. I’m really glad I grew up there and sad to move for college!</p>
<p>Two great areas for shopping and dining are Green Hills, which is fairly close to Nashville, and Cool Springs, which is mostly in Franklin but also in Brentwood, two smaller neighboring cities of Nashville. There are great restaurants in downtown Nashville, too, like the Melting Pot and Ruth Chris, but Green Hills and Cool Springs has great, fun shopping and wonderful atmosphere. Hillsboro Village is a very Soho area close to Green Hills your daughter will love - coffee shops, used bookstores, eclectic accessory stores (go to Pangea!) and more.</p>
<p>Reading The Nashville Scene, the very liberal and cheeky weekly tabloid style magazine, will definitely let you know where the local shows are, as there’s always great music somewhere. It also lets you know about restaurants, shops, that sort of thing, as well as keeps you up on local politics. </p>
<p>You will see famous people a lot. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban live here, Renee Zellweger lived here for a short while when she was married to Kenny Chesney, who still lives here. I used to see Billy Ray Cyrus at Wolfang Punk Express in Cool Springs all the time before he moved back to LA. Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Wynonna Judd, Michael McDonald (he lives down the street from me actually), Dolly Parton (her nephews went to high school with me), even Jessica Simpson sometimes…the list goes on and on. Most people are used to it and try to give them their privacy, which is why a lot of celebs choose Nashville. Besides, almost everyone in Nashville who isn’t already famous is trying to get famous or thinks they are, so its not a big deal.</p>
<p>You will love Nashville. There’s tons of things to do all the time and it really is a beautiful place. Venture out and take a drive through Williamson County, look around at the rolling hills covered in green trees and the fenced pastures filled with tall corn and wild flowers, and you won’t want to call any other place home.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention - I don’t know where your kids will go to school, if they still live at home, but Williamson County has really great public schools. The whole Nashville area has good private schools, too. Parents are usually really involved with the schools, no matter if its public or private.</p>
<p>As far as colleges go, Vanderbilt is of course our pride and joy. Belmont is also a good, though expensive, school in the area with a Baptist background and a very prestigious music program. We also have Lipscomb, a smaller Christian school, and a couple design and technology schools. Close by in Murfeesboro there is Middle Tennessee State University, which isn’t anything to brag about in my opinion but has some reputable public relations type programs with a lot of Nashville internships offered. And of course we have the University of Tennessee system, with Knoxville being the flapship campus. There’s a lot of Vol spirit all throughout Tennessee, and I know lots of people who got great, affordable educations there. There are campuses in Memphis, Chattanooga and Martin, too. Martin has a solid and well-known honors college. We also have our historically black schools, Fisk University and Tennessee State University. Fisk University has great art exbihits all the time.</p>