Miranda Lambert: “I'm excited to be a wife and start a home”

When Miranda Lambert defiantly belts “I ain't one to wear no ring,” she's not exactly talking about herself. After all, it's just a song.

In fact, she says, both she and her fiancé, fellow country star Blake Shelton, will slip on wedding rings during their nuptials May 14, and she proudly divulges, “I picked 'em out.”

“I'm looking forward to that next phase in life,” says Lambert, 27.

But this one has been pretty good. Lambert dominated last month's Academy of Country Music Awards with four wins, including top female vocalist, landed her first Grammy in February, has been packing arenas around the country, all the while planning her high-profile walk to the altar with longtime beau Shelton. And, oh, yes, news is she's planning a TV show based on — herself.

“Last year was such a crazy year,” says the petite, dimpled-faced crooner, who has become one of the hottest women in country music since she landed on the talent competition Nashville Star in 2003. Since then, she has recorded three platinum albums in a row, including her latest, Revolution. “Everything went to a new level. This year feels like it's already starting to do that. It's been great.”

While Lambert has been reaching milestones and garnering accolades, she also has been preparing to take on an entirely new role: spouse.

“I'm excited to be a wife and start a home,” says Lambert, who lives on a farm near Tishomingo, Okla., a few miles down the road from Shelton's ranch. The two first met at a CMT taping in 2005 and started dating in 2006.

“I have laughed more in the last six years than I ever have in my life,” she says.

Shelton, 34, proposed last year on Mother's Day, in the woods near their homes. “I told him, ‘You're lucky, because you'll never forget when we got engaged!' ” Lambert says.

The wedding will be a major affair. “It's hard to have a small wedding when you have so many friends and family,” Lambert says. “And Blake's family is huge.” On the menu, Lambert says: venison, a nod to one of the couple's favorite activities, hunting.

Though marriage is a big step, Lambert has been pairing up with Shelton at home and at work for years. The two have appeared on each other's albums and often make surprise walk-ons at each other's shows. Back home, in addition to hunting, they spend their downtime fishing and back-roading together.

“He doesn't necessarily like to lay out, and I don't want to be on the tractor for five hours straight,” Lambert says, “but most things we love to do together.

“I have a pool, so we're at my house more in the summer and his house in the winter, because it's closer to the deer lease,” says the Tyler, Texas, native. “Eventually, we'll have our clothes in one closet.”

As for plans to have children, Lambert says her seven dogs keep her plenty busy.

“They're good birth control,” jokes Lambert, who created a non-profit organization called MuttNation Foundation to help finance animal shelters and pet-adoption programs. “It's sad that people would leave animals on the side of the road. Luckily, they win the lottery when I drive by.”