Kellie Pickler photo by Tony Baker, courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Kellie Pickler is being pulled in a bunch of different directions these days. She’s looking after an investment, making a big change in her personal life and — as always — hoping to move her career forward.

Unlike most of us, Kellie doesn’t get to make all those decisions on her home turf. She’s been touring heavily, mixing in fair dates between shows as an opening act on Rascal Flatts’ Nothing Like This Tour.

So what’s tugging at her? First off, she bought a new home earlier this year, and her attempts at decorating always come with delays.

“Seems like it takes longer to get your furniture ordered and get it in than it does to build a house,” she told The Green Bay Press Gazette. “It takes six to eight weeks and then you’ll get that call: ‘Oh, it’s on back order, so it’s going to be three more weeks.’’’

Then there’s her upcoming nuptials. On Wednesday, Kellie and her fiance — songwriter Kyle Jacobs — spent time with a wedding planner, organizing their ceremony just a couple months after he proposed to her. The engagement came with its own tie-up: The ring had to be re-sized to fit her finger properly, and she just got it back.

“I’m doing the lookin’-at-the-finger-thing now,” she said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever stop doing that. For me, it’s just a constant reminder that I get to spend the rest of my life with Kyle. He’s such a man of God. It’s such a huge blessing.”

Adding to all of the home and marriage planning, there’s also the need to develop her next album. Kellie’s debut, Small Town Girl, came out in October 2006 and her sophomore release, Kellie Pickler, appeared in September 2008. She’s hopeful that the third album will reflect her as an artist and a person even better than the first two.

“I was so young when I signed my record deal,” she said. “I was 19 and green and didn’t really know myself very well. I was more of a … follower than a leader, just kind of rolling with the flow and letting people dictate what I was going to do and what not. Now it’s like I’ve grown up a lot and seen the world and had new life experiences and been through a lot these past two years personally. I know who I am now.”

Kellie talks repeatedly about blending a heavier dose of traditional country into the album without losing her contemporary edge.

In the meantime, you can see Kellie Sept. 1 on the ABC special “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock.” Hosted by Tim McGraw, the show will also feature Taylor Swift, Martina McBride, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum.

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