Alanis Morissette is wearing a big ol' rock on her finger and speaks with a smile in her voice.

"I'm unrecognizable these days," she explains over the phone hours before giving a concert in St. Louis, "almost to myself."

The traditional diamond engagement ring on her left hand is a post-birthday surprise from boyfriend of two years and Vancouver-born actor Ryan Reynolds. That she's even wearing it -- and that big old grin she's been sporting from Los Angeles to Cannes -- sort of makes the singer/songwriter who became most famous for her angry anthem You Oughta Know a decade ago wonder.

NAC DATE

So it's understandable when Morissette, who stops at the National Arts Centre on Aug. 19 to support her latest release So-Called Chaos, says she still has a million ideas floating around her head about exactly when and how she and Reynolds are going to tie the knot.

"We're the kind of people it could happen in two months or a year. Everyone says that it's going to be intimate, but it's going to be intimate," she says, laughing before she starts joking about how many weddings, celebrity or not, turn out the way they're planned. "It's going to be a free for all. There's going to be a ton of people there I don't know. Right at (Ottawa) City Hall ... at Parliament Hill. Really intimate!"

Though Morissette isn't giving away any of her plans, she doesn't think she spends enough time in Ottawa to have the wedding here. And though she laughs at the mention of 300 guests and the happy couple arriving in a horse-drawn carriage, she also says "never say never."

"There's a part of me that's a real traditionalist and the part of me that's a rebel and I have to find a way to have the two parts be at my wedding," says Morissette. "I think even having an engagement ring is a way of tipping my hat to tradition."

Reynolds, known to most for his hilarious turn in 2001's National Lampoon's Van Wilder, doesn't seem to have a problem with the old-fashioned way. He proposed just after his girl's 30th birthday June 1, but not without sneaking off to ask her father's permission.

"We were in Vancouver at our place and he said he was doing something for my birthday, and he flew back to Ottawa to have dinner with my parents and then flew back," she said. "He said he needed to do something and needed between two and seven hours and it took him."

Morissette jokes about finding worrisome the conniving side of Reynolds that has learned to outwit her "stealth sleuth" side, but it's clear she can't say enough good things about the guy who won her heart.

"He's such a wonderful partner I can hardly put it into words, a million things, just the level of caring and humour and commitment not just to me but to life. I just love him so much," she says. "He's an inspiration to me."

Morissette, in the past two years particularly, seems to be pushing her limits like never before. The seven-time Grammy winner and seller of 45 million records turned to a life coach for emotional guidance after rocketing to fame.

There was a recent spread showcasing her downtown Ottawa condo in the pages of In Style magazine, a decision to lop off her famous locks and glammed up red-carpet moments promoting her singing role in the recent Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely.

She is now such a fan of the concept of personal growth she might one day market a self-help guide of her own.

"I'm writing a lot right now -- I hope it will definitely turn into a book at some point but I haven't reached out to any publishers," she says.

This summer Morissette has been touring across the U.S. with fellow Canadians the Barenaked Ladies. The two acts have been alternating headlining roles and it's all worked out to be a bit of a fantasy gig, though she'll be taking on Ottawa alone.

It's been five years since she played a full-length concert in the capital, not counting this spring's gig at the Ottawa Civic Centre opening for the Dalai Lama and a Canada Day set three years ago.

"I really wanted to play Ottawa. It's been a long time," says Morissette. "The NAC is kind of a fantasy place to play. I've been going there since I was a wee lass."

Tickets for the show are $51.50-$67.50 and available through Ticketmaster or the NAC box-office.